la
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 Philofophical Diflertations 
 
 ON THE 
 
 EGYPTIANS and CHINESE. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH 
 or 
 
 MR. DE PAUW, 
 
 PRIVATE READER TO FREDERIC II. KING OF PRUSSIA, 
 
 BY CAPT. J. THOMSON. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOLUME THE SECOND. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED BY T. CHAPMAN, NO. IJI, FLEET-STREET; 
 
 FOR J. EDWARDS, PALL-MALL. 
 1795- 

 
 . 
 
 ! 
 -
 
 STACK ANNK 
 
 on i 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SECOND VOLUME, 
 
 SECOND PART. 
 
 Sea, VI. STATE of Architeaure among the Egyptians 
 
 and Chinefe Page I 
 
 THIRD PART. 
 
 Sea. VII. On the Religion of the Egyptians - 88 
 
 Sea. VIII. On the Religion of the Chinefe - 163 
 
 Sea. IX. On the Government of Egypt - 229 
 
 Sea. X. On the Government of the Chinefe - 290 
 
 817267
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page i7, line 26, for Butter, read, Bujgtner. 
 
 141, and in other places, for Manethon, read, Manetho. 
 
 171, and in other places, for Lon, read, Lou. 
 
 191, 16, for Tartan, read, Tartar. 
 
 *94> 3> f or Zamoixes and Taxoras, read, Zamolxis and 
 
 Toxaris. 
 
 207, 18, for clock, read, bell. 
 238, 27, for Nomandic, read, Nomadic. 
 24.0, 25, for increases, read, decreafes. 
 451, 14, for fudres, read, feidres. 
 6 4> 3 a f te r Ptolemy, read, Evax king of Arabia, Juba, 
 
 Dejotares, Hieron, Attalus. 
 18 1, 1 8, for feduce, read, lubdue.
 
 Philofophical Diflertations 
 
 ON THE 
 
 EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 
 
 SPOT VT 
 
 pIL ^ L ' V ** 
 
 STATE OF ARCHITECTURE AMONG THOSE PEOPLE. 
 
 E principal works erected by the Egyptians 
 and Chinefe are confidered here for the fole 
 purpofe of difplaying the efiential difference of 
 genius in the two nations. We do not therefore 
 pretend to fpeak of the principles and rules of ar- 
 chitecture; for, however this may be the duty of 
 the artifl, it is not the object of the philofopher. 
 
 After having examined fome monuments in a ge- 
 neral way, we propofe to defcribe more particularly 
 the Great Wall, by which Egypt was bounded to 
 the eaft. That no perfon may be tempted to fufpect 
 a connexion between this rampart and that of China, 
 we mail point out an aflonifhing number of others, 
 on the furface of the ancient continent. Some of 
 thefe were fo very extenfive, that, if placed toge- 
 ther in a flraight line, beginning at the firft me- 
 ridian, and following the direction of the equator, 
 
 VOL. ii. B they
 
 a PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 they would nearly have divided the whole of our 
 hemifphere. It is very remarkable, that the inha- 
 bitants of fo many regions, on three parts of our 
 globe, have endeavoured to fortify themfelves in 
 this manner, chiefly againft the Tartars and Arabs : 
 but no appearances of any fuch works have ever 
 been difcovered in America. 
 
 Any Chinefe at this day would be much afto- 
 nifhed to fee the obelifks of Alexandria, or the 
 Matary, and ftill more thofe pyramids, ranged to 
 the weft of the Nile, from Hauara to Gizeh. So 
 far from finding monuments of that kind in China, 
 no perfon there ever heard them even mentioned. 
 The emperor Kien-long^ of the dynafty of Daj- 
 dzin, who fat on the throne when this book was 
 written, might perhaps have poflefled fome paint- 
 ings lefs defective than thofe feen in that country 
 until the year one thoufand feven hundred and 
 thirty : bat not one of his houfes exhibited a fmgle 
 fine column. The princes, who preceded him fmce 
 To, if ever fuch a perfon exifted, employed no 
 other than wooden pillars, deftitute of all fixed pro- 
 portions, in their palaces, pagodas, and tombs. 
 
 Thus we find the characteriftic of Chinefe ar- 
 chitecture to be diametrically oppofite to that of the 
 Egyptians, which tended to render indeftru&ible, 
 what in the former was not only fragile, but like- 
 wife very inflammable, from the varnifh, as well as 
 the mixture of lime, tow, and paper, with which 
 they fill up the cavities of the wood, when any 
 
 are
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 3 
 
 ate found on the pillars, or the expofed parts of 
 the entablature. The town of Nankin having once 
 caught fire, all attempts to extinguifh it were ufe- 
 lefs. Not one houfe could be faved ; and three days 
 sifter the conflagration, the whole diftrict did not 
 difcover even the ruins of a habitation. The town 
 of Thebes, on the contrary, although facked and 
 fet on fire fo many times fmce Cambyfes, prefents 
 ftill confiderable vefliges, of which fome drawings 
 and infcriptions have been given both by Pococke 
 and Norden. It is believed that the great temple 
 of Thebes may be expected to remain longer than 
 any of the palaces erected in the prefent day ; 
 and the boafted cupola of Saint Peter's church in 
 particular appears little calculated for durability. 
 
 Knowing the vanity of the Chinefe, and their 
 addiction to hiftorical falfehood, we mould reduce 
 to its jufl value what they relate of thofe marvellous 
 edifices, conftructed by their firfl emperors. Some, 
 like the pretended caflle of the emprefs Ta-kia, 
 never exifled ; and the fabulous defcription of that 
 building has been invented by writers, who had no 
 idea whatever of architecture. Such mud we 
 confider them, when they venture to affirm, that 
 it was built of red marble inclining to a rofe-colour ; 
 that the light entered there, as into one of the 
 apartments in the golden houfe of Nero ; that the 
 doors were of jafper ; and that the height of the 
 caftle was two thoufand feet. Other boafted fa- 
 brics, like the tomb of Scbi-chuan-di, were con- 
 
 B 2 ftructed
 
 4 
 
 flru&ed entirely of wood ; and the reader may 
 judge prefently, what grofs exaggerations have 
 been publifhed concerning that edifice, of which 
 not even a ruin now remains. 
 
 It is impoffible to reflect, without fmiling, on 
 the fimplicity or folly of the Chinefe, who point 
 out in the province of Chen-fi the fepulchre of 
 Fo-hi. Father Du Halde obferves ferioufly, that 
 if this monument be really authentic, it is more 
 ancient than all thofe on our continent *. But this 
 piece of antiquity cannot be compared to the 
 Pike of Adam in the ifland of Ceylon, where traces 
 are pretended to be found of Piromi the firft of 
 mortals. Such puerile traditions, it is eafy to con- 
 ceive, can only be relifhed among unenlightened 
 nations, where hiflorical criticifm being entirely 
 unknown, the ignorant regale each other with 
 fables. As the lettered there know that their 
 country was peopled by colonies from the heights 
 of Tartary, they have fuppofed the tomb of their 
 founder Fo-hi to be fituated nearly in the thirty- 
 fifth degree of north latitude, and the hundred 
 and twenty-fecond of longitude. This correfponds 
 with the pofition of the town of Kong-tchang, in 
 the province of Chen-fi. 
 
 The Chinefe never knew the method of erecting 
 ftone buildings of two or three ftories ; and they 
 are not inclined even to attempt any thing of the 
 kind with timber. Thus all the towns of that 
 
 * Defcription of China, vol. i. 
 
 country
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 5 
 
 country require three times more fpace than ex- 
 pediency would admit ; efpecially as agricul- 
 ture is in full force only in their neighbourhood. 
 Mr. Le Poivre fays, that in China the foil is fpared 
 even in conftruding pleafure-houfes ; and the great 
 roads, he adds, are nothing more than paths * : but 
 furely it mud be admitted, that this writer has 
 been extravagantly enthufiaftic with regard to the 
 Chinefe. The villa, creeled by the emperor 
 Can-hi merely through caprice, covered more fur- 
 face than any of our third-rate towns ; and every 
 perfon knows, that the road leading to Pekin is one 
 hundred and twenty feet broad. In the fouthern pro- 
 vinces, where neither carriages nor any beafts of bur- 
 den are employed, becaufe every thing is conveyed by 
 canals, the highways do not require to be very 
 fpacious : but we mall fee prefently, that the in- 
 terior commerce of that country is not always car- 
 ried on by water. 
 
 Some travellers have fuggefled, that the Chinefe 
 are led to prefer low houfes through fear of earth- 
 quakes i yet fuch difafters are lefs frequent with 
 them than in the Molucca Iflands, and Japan, where 
 they feem to be periodical. It is however very 
 certain, that this precaution does not enable them 
 to refift the flighted mocks ; and whole towns are 
 ibmetimes as completely deftroyed, as if they were 
 fwept away by a whirlwind. This fpedacle pre- 
 fented itfelf in the year one thoufand feven hundred 
 and nineteen at Junny, and fome other neighbour- 
 
 * Voyage d'un Philofophe. 
 
 B 3 ing
 
 6 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATION'S 
 
 ing places, where not a fmgle habitation was left 
 (landing *. In the reign of Tbng-fcbang, father to 
 the prefent emperor, upwards of forty thoufand 
 perfons were crufhed to death in Pekin, although 
 inhabiting dwellings little better than huts. Houfes 
 might furely be conftrucled in fuch a manner as to 
 fuffer little from earthquakes ; but of this the 
 Chinefe are altogether ignorant. They neither 
 give folidity to the foundations, nor fufficient 
 thicknefs to the walls, which belides are never 
 held together by joifls or braces ; and therefore 
 it is not aftonifhing, that they mould be eafily 
 Jhattered to pieces. At one time, the fteeple of 
 Nankin tumbled down under the weight of its 
 bell. 
 
 Architecture in China, like all the other arts, is 
 reduced to practice, inftead of rules. The trunk 
 of a tree, called Nan-?nou, and not the. palm, has 
 ferved there as the model for the columns ; and al- 
 though its fpecies is not exactly known, it appears 
 to belong to the clafs of larches, or firs. When 
 the idea of the pillar was acquired, it might be 
 fuppofed, that the proportions likewife would have 
 been afcertained ; and yet they were never reduced 
 to fixed principles. Mr. Chambers, who meafured 
 fome parts of a pagoda at Ganton, fays that the 
 height of the pillars was equal to from eight to 
 twelve times their diameter f j but this is not gene- 
 rally 
 
 * Bell of Antermony, vol. i. 
 
 f It is even pofiible that Mr. Chambers had taken the dimen- 
 fions of a pagoda faid to have been formerly s. church belonging 
 
 to
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 7 
 
 rally the cafe. They are in reality efteemed only 
 for their great fize, when confiding of one fingle 
 piece ; and this is confidered as a fpecies of luxury 
 and magnificence. As trees with all the necefTary 
 qualities cannot eafily be found, the private houfes 
 are fupported by trunks, feldom exceeding thirteen 
 or fourteen feet in height, from the root to that 
 part where the diminution becomes very apparent. 
 The Nan-moti, like firs in general, grows very 
 lofty while young, and requires many years to at- 
 tain much circumference. Thus the difficulty of 
 procuring timber of fuch dimenfions muft have 
 determined the Chinefe to prefer this tree to all 
 others. In a pagoda near Nankin, fome are now 
 feen upwards of five feet in diameter : but thofe of 
 the new palace at Pekin, rebuilt fince the fire in the 
 reign of Can-fa, do not exceed two feet and a 
 half. 
 
 It is furprifmg that the Chinefe, with fuch ideas, 
 mould never have attempted to work in ftone, efpe- 
 cially as their whole country abounds with quar- 
 ries. Their edifices, deftitute of fyrnmetry in the 
 whole, or proportion among the component parts, 
 are inferior even to thofe of the Perfians and 
 Turks. They extend the frieze enormouily, for 
 the fole purpofe of difplaying a profufion of or- 
 naments, too whimfical to be defcribed. Among 
 the Egyptians, that part feems to have been de- 
 ftined chiefly to contain reprefentations of the facred 
 
 to the Jefuits. He was befides ignorant of a-fat which fhall be 
 related hereafter. 
 
 B 4 animals.
 
 8 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 animals. The Greeks therefore called it the Zo- 
 phorus, and we ihould have adopted that word, 
 rather than the term frieze^ which is altogether 
 barbarous. 
 
 No particular place in the pagodas and palaces 
 feems to have been allotted for the emblem of the 
 dragon. It is feen every-where, even on the fum- 
 mit and angles of the roof, producing the mod 
 difagreeable effect poflible. The paffion of the 
 Chinefe is unaccountable in multiplying copies of 
 this hideous monfler, which refembles fometimes 
 a lizard of Iguan, and frequently a winged toad, 
 with the tail of an elephant. It might have been 
 preferved on banners and liveries, as the prin- 
 cipal piece of ancient arms ; and this would only 
 be conformable to the immutability of cuftoms in 
 the Eaft. But the ufe made of it in architecture 
 is not more reafonable than the invention of thofe 
 French artifls, who fculptured heads of cocks, and 
 flower-de-luces, on chapiters of the Corinthian 
 order. A more frigid allufion could not poffibly 
 be made to the name and emblem of their 
 nation. 
 
 The Chinefe conftruct their edifices in fuch a 
 manner, that the principal walls fupport nothing, 
 while the top refls immediately on wooden pillars. 
 This defective mode was never adopted, as fom e 
 have believed, to prevent the progrefs of fire ; and 
 it has forced them to invent double roofs, extend- 
 ing one below the other ; becaufe a feparate fried 
 is necefiary to protect the walls. Solidity is every- 
 where
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 9 
 
 where neglected, and without it architecture has 
 no real beauty. The houfes, built along the river 
 Canton, have indeed fome works to raife them 
 above the water j but in the interior provinces 
 whole towns are erected without any foundation. 
 In fome of their towers, the firft layer of bricks 
 is not twenty -four inches below ground ; and con- 
 fequently, as Father Trigault fays, they feldom 
 remain Handing during a fmgle century *. We 
 muft however except the Van-ly-czin, or Great 
 Wall, which was conftructed by feveral kings to- 
 tally independent of the Chinefe emperors. Their 
 interefl led them to make that work capable of 
 refilling the efforts of an enemy ; otherwife the 
 whole undertaking would have been abfurd. Yet 
 the parts, which do not reft on the folid rock, 
 or are neglected for a fhort time, foon fall into 
 ruins. The thicknefs of the pillars, ufed by the 
 Chinefe through mere oftentation, does not con- 
 tribute to the folidity of the building ; becaufe 
 their pedeftals are not fecured in the earth. The 
 bafis is nothing more than a fquare ft one, laid on 
 the furface of the ground, with a flight excavation 
 to contain the lower end of the column ; while 
 the other is united, without any fwelling, to what 
 they may pretend to call the architrave. No cha- 
 piter of any kind is ever employed by the Chinefe ; 
 and this circumftance, as well as a thoufand others, 
 proves how much their manner of building differs 
 
 * Ita raro unius f<ecuK etatem ferunt. Exped. apud Sin. 
 lib. i. 
 
 from
 
 10 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 from that of the Egyptians, whofe imagination 
 was greatly exercifed in embelliming that part of 
 their columns. They did not confine themfelves 
 entirely to the form defcribed by Athenseus * ; for 
 nine or ten different kinds have been difcovered 
 in the ruins of Thebais and the Delta. Finally, 
 in a Chinefe pagoda we fee neither ranks of 
 fphinxes, inclining walls, flat roofs, obelifks, crypts, 
 fubterraneous vaults, nor any thing refembling 
 an Egyptian temple. 
 
 Many miflakes feem to have been propagated 
 with regard to the model adopted for the firfl 
 Egyptian houfes ; but the Chinefe evidently imi- 
 tated the form of their tents. From all that we 
 can learn of their primitive ftate, they were origin- 
 ally Nomades, or Scenites, like all the Tartars ; 
 and confequently encamped with their flocks, pre- 
 vious to their fettlement in towns. This, without 
 doubt, gave rife to the fmgular conftruction of their 
 prefent dwellings, where the roofs remain after 
 the walls are thrown down, becaufe they have no 
 connexion with the timber-work. An inclofure 
 of mafonry had been made in this manner round 
 the tents, to contain the cattle ; and fuch was 
 certainly the firfl flep, leading from a paftoral and 
 wandering life towards fixed habitations. No- 
 thing in fad: can have more refemblance to an en- 
 campment than a Chinefe town, which, at fome 
 diftance, is moflly concealed by the ramparts, be 
 
 * Lib. v. cap. 6. 
 
 caufe
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. n 
 
 caufe the houfes are all of one fmgle flory. Thus 
 Mr. Bougainville, when fpeaking of an eftablifh- 
 ment near Batavia, calls it the Chinefe Camp *. 
 
 An hiftorian, or rather a fabulift of China, 
 called the Lo-pi, fays that the firft habitations of 
 his country refembled the nefts of birds. But 
 this is an Oriental figure, and muft not confe- 
 quently be underflood in a literal fenfe. It is not 
 probable, that the Chinefe ever lived among the 
 boughs of trees, like thofe favages of South Ame- 
 rica, who through ftupidity and lazinefs did not 
 clear the courfe of the rivers, which in fummer 
 overflowed their banks between the tropics. Thus 
 their only refuge for a part of the year was on 
 the tops of trees, devouring, like monkeys and 
 marmofets, the fruit they found on the branches. 
 By nefts of birds, the Lo-pi probably intended to 
 fignify low round tents, made like bee-hives, and 
 ufed by the Tartars, who frequent Chamo and 
 other fandy deferts. It would be impoffible there 
 to ufe wooden pins for pitching tents, like thofe 
 now employed by the Chinefe foldiers, which 
 are almoft exactly fimilar to thofe of our own 
 armies f. 
 
 It is difficult indeed to conceive, how the Abbe 
 Barthelemy could affirm, that the edifices on the 
 celebrated Paleflrina Mofaic refembled Chinefe 
 houfes. That learned man muft have experienced 
 fmgular illufions in examining that monument j 
 
 * Voyage round the World, vol. ii. 
 t Military Art of the Chinefe. 
 
 and
 
 Jz PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 and one example will be fufficient to give an idea 
 of all the reft. He aflures us that, in the barks 
 on the Nile, fome perfons are feen with round 
 and pointed bonnets, like thofe worn in China at 
 this day ; and thence he concludes, that the Chinefe 
 were originally Egyptians *. But how could he 
 not have perceived that this drefs was not ufed 
 in China before the year one thoufand fix hundred 
 and forty-four? It is really the Tartar hat, with 
 which the people were forced to cover themfelves, 
 when they received orders from their conquerors 
 to cut off their long hair. Thus the pretended 
 refemblances, imagined without reflexion or re- 
 fearches, between the Egyptians and Chinefe, 
 vanifh like chimeras. We have feen nearly all the 
 engraved copies extant of the Paleftrina Mofaic j 
 and particularly that inferted by the Abbe Bar- 
 thelemy himfelf in the Memoirs of the Academy of 
 Inscriptions. Yet in none of thefe does it appear, 
 that the barks ufed on the Nile, fo much talked 
 of by this author, have any more conformity with 
 the boats of China than with the gondolas of 
 Venice. The vefiels of all nations, from the ca- 
 noes of the Hurons to the galleys of the Mediter- 
 ranean, feem to have had nearly the fame primitive 
 form ; and we are juflified in averting, that fuch 
 circumftances cannot afcertain the hiftory of a 
 
 * Explanation of the Paleftrina Mofaic. The ancient 
 Egyptians cut off their hair : the Chinefe, on the contrary, 
 difcovered the greateft obftinacy in prefcrving it, as we have feen 
 on the conqueft of the Tartars. 
 
 colony
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 13 
 
 colony fent from Africa to the extremity of 
 Afia. 
 
 Although the Chinefe are long acquainted with 
 the art of making arches, they have feldom practifed 
 it in the confirmation of their bridges. That in 
 the province of yun-nan confifts of nothing more 
 than piles, placed at certain diftances, and joined 
 by iron chains, along which the traveller paffes 
 with terror. Men of any dexterity would furely 
 never have executed a work of that nature. Inde- 
 pendently of all other inconveniencies and dangers, 
 the ruft, occafioned by fogs from the river, muft 
 affect the metal, and make it liable to give way 
 when leaft expected. Father Parenin, in his letter, 
 places this pretended iron bridge in competition 
 with all the great edifices of Egypt ; and fuch 
 partiality in favor of the Chinefe is fo remarkable 
 among all the writers of his order, that we read 
 their accounts with continual diffidence. Many 
 other bridges are feen in China, where, inftead of 
 arches, flat ftones are placed on pofts, erected at 
 fmall diftances. The great number of thefe fup- 
 ports has been confidered by ignorant travellers 
 as highly ornamental ; but the precaution is ab- 
 folutely neceflary ; otherwife the crofs ftones, what- 
 ever might be their thicknefs, would foon break 
 in the middle. 
 
 With regard to the famous flying bridge, fo 
 
 much celebrated in Europe, and fo often repre- 
 
 fented by engravings, we are under the neceflity 
 
 of declaring, that nothing, fuch as it is defcribed, 
 
 i ever
 
 ,+ PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 ever exifted. The author of the Continuation oi 
 Rollin's Hiftory feems to infmuate, that Father 
 Kircher took the liberty of inventing this flying 
 bridge, in a work publifhed at Amfterdam, under 
 the title of China illuftrated. This Father Kircher, 
 who is accufed of fo many things, had certainly 
 very ftrange vifions, and much effrontery in pub- 
 lifhing them ; but here we mufl do him the juftice 
 to obferve, that he only fpoke after the Atlas of 
 Martini, as did alfo the anonymous compiler of 
 the Wonders of Art and Nature *. The inventor 
 of the flying bridge, however, wanted common 
 fenfe 5 and it is not extraordinary that an able 
 French architect, named Boffrand, after examining 
 the dimenfions, declared them to be chimerical in 
 all their points. It is eafy indeed to perceive at 
 once, that no fuch bridge could be erected by means 
 of the Roman arch, or even of the Gothic, which 
 is commonly employed in China. What has given 
 rife among Europeans to fo many abfurd fables, 
 but too grateful to the vanity of the Chinefe, is in 
 reality the production of a torrent. It opened a 
 paflage under rocks, which were probably fupported 
 by a layer of earth, and in that manner produced 
 a phenomenon not unexampled among the Alps. 
 All the bridges conflructed by the Chinefe are ex- 
 ceedingly whimfical ; and even when compofed of 
 arches, they want ftrength, as Father Du Halde 
 obferves, to fupport loaded carnages : but as they 
 form a very acute angle at the fummit, no danger 
 
 * Artificia Hominum et Miranda Nature in Sina. 
 
 is
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 15 
 
 is to be apprehended from any thing of that kind j 
 for even travellers have to pafs them by flairs. 
 When the Chinefe are afked why fo much elevation 
 is given to the centre arch j they fay it mufl be 
 fo, in order that the barks may pafs without inter- 
 ruption. Inftead of incurring fo much danger, it 
 would furely be better to make the veflels lower 
 their iriafts, which is no difficult operation on 
 fmall rivers. 
 
 An obfervation of the utmoft confequence, and 
 fufficient to undeceive us for ever with regard to 
 what the Chinefe hiftorians relate of the flourifhing 
 ftate of their country under the ancient emperors, 
 concerns the Tu-ho or Royal Canal. That work, 
 truly worthy of admiration, has been executed by 
 very Ikilful artifts, who underflood levelling per- 
 fectly ; and the mechanifm of the locks they con- 
 flructed is as fimple as the effect is aftonifhing. 
 Almoft the whole interior commerce of the country 
 is carried on by this navigation, which opens a 
 communication with the fouthern provinces and 
 thofe of Pe-tcbeli and Kian-nan^ without any of the 
 dangers attending fea voyages. Thus it is impoffible 
 that, previous to its being opened, the inland trade 
 could ever have had great activity. Readers, who 
 poflefs any mare of penetration, will eafily conceive 
 what mould be inferred here, and therefore we 
 mall not infifl further on this point. But it mud 
 not be imagined, that the Royal Canal was made 
 by the Chinefe ; for their architects were incapable 
 of undertaking any thing of the kind. That 
 
 aftonifhing
 
 1 6 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 aftonifhing bed, by which the rivers flow into the 
 lakes, and the lakes into the rivers, -without their 
 being liable either to dry up or overflow, was dug 
 by the Mogul Tartars. It extends for more than 
 fix hundred leagues ; and affords a navigation from 
 one extremity of the empire to the other. 
 
 The conqueror Koublai, whofe name can never 
 perifli, was a well-informed prince, and a lover of 
 the arts. He invited into China many learned 
 Perfians, Arabs, and Lamas, particularly aftro- 
 nomers, geographers, and architects. The firft 
 were employed in compofing almanacs ; the fecond 
 made obfervations as far north as the fifty-fifth 
 degree, and fouth to the fixteenth, taking the al- 
 titude of different parts of China, Corea, Tartary, 
 and Tonquin: the third clafs began to make the 
 great canal, about the year one thoufand two hun- 
 dred and eighty of our era j and fince that epoch, 
 the- appearance of China has changed entirely. 
 The fea formerly fwallowed up three-fourths of the 
 veflels which attempted to pafs Li-ampo, in their 
 paffage into the gulph of Nankin. At length the 
 Moguls, mocked at fo many fhipwrecks, took com- 
 paffion on the Chinefe, who navigated fo badly on 
 the ocean, and had not fufficient induftry to open 
 a way acrofs the continent. Not a fingle vefiel is 
 now loft in pafling the locks, and they continue to 
 be kept in perfect repair by the vigilance of the 
 Mandhui Tartars. Had thefe conquerors not ap- 
 peared, it is probable that the Chinefe would have 
 fuffered this work, already much decayed in one 
 
 thoufand
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. t# 
 
 thoufand fix hundred and forty, to fall entirely into 
 ruins; and then the country muft have been re- 
 duced to its former miferable flate. 
 
 All the trenches for watering the fields, and the 
 numerous crofs canals which communicate with the 
 Tit-bo, were- likewife formed by the care of Koublai- 
 Kan ; who befides opened all fouthern China to 
 foreign traders. It was in his reign that mips 
 were feen there for the firft time from Malabar^ 
 Sumatra, and Ceylon. By thefe means the pro- 
 vinces began to breathe, after having been ex- 
 haufted by the rapacioufnefs of the Chinefe officers^ 
 who required as many contributions in their own 
 country, as if they had entered there as conquerors ; 
 and, pillaged in turn by victorious enemies, they 
 were loft to every fenfe of fhame or honor. KoUblai$ 
 to prevent fuch diforders, augmented the pay of 
 the army, which under the ancient government had 
 been badly maintained, and did not indeed deferve 
 better treatment. After fuch facts, the Chinefe 
 muft be considered as guilty of the bafeft ingra- 
 titude, when they endeavour to blacken the memory 
 of that prince. They blame him for having con- 
 fided in men from the weft, although thefe were 
 the geographers and architects employed in con- 
 flructing worksj which would do honor to the 
 greateft monarchs* He was reproached befides with 
 loving women, and being attached to the Dalai- 
 Lama. Yet all the emperors of China, prior to 
 his arrival, had feraglios containing three or four 
 hundred concubines, guarded by twelve or thir- 
 
 VOL. ii< e teen
 
 iS PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 teen thoufand eunuchs. The Dalai-Lama was thd 
 legitimate pontiff of the religion profeffed by 
 Koublai-Kan ; and r in the midft of his glory, and 
 through a long cotlrfe of profperity, he never for- 
 got that the conqueror and the humbled Have were 
 equally in the hands of the Omnipotent. But al- 
 though firmly devoted to the worfhip of his ancef- 
 tors, he never perfecuted the conquered for any 
 of their filly opinions ; and his conduct in this 
 point Was very different from that of Alexander. 
 The Perfian Magi were continually tormented by 
 the Macedonian, and they could not entirely pre- 
 ferve the facred books of Zend from his fanaticifn. 
 
 The Arabs, who travelled in China in the eighth 
 century, found that country fubjetted to eunuchs 
 and peopled in fome places by anthropophagi *. 
 Various conjectures have been made on this report ; 
 and many tend to difpute its authenticity. Yet 
 the government of that clafs of men is an un- 
 doubted fad ; and the appearance of China has 
 certainly undergone a great change fmce that pe- 
 riod. Ihe revolution in commerce and agriculture 
 did not take place until the reign of Koub!ai-Kan, 
 the founder of the twentieth dvnaPiv. Then, like- 
 wife, whatever Father Goubil may fay to the con- 
 trary, aitronomy was firft introduced there : but 
 the knowledge, brought thirher by the Arabs, Per- 
 fians, and learned men of Balk and Samarcand 
 who followed the Moguls, was loft a fecond time 
 
 * Ancient Relation of India and China, published by the Abbe 
 Renaudot. 
 
 at
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. t 9 
 
 at the extinction of the twentieth dynafty. Of 
 this we have a proof in an edicl of the nrfl Man- 
 dhui emperorj publifhed in one thoufand fix hun- 
 dred and fifty : it fets forth, that ever fince the 
 expulfion of the Moguls, the Chinefe were inca- 
 pable of making an exact almanac ; that their er- 
 rors, augmenting every year, became a difgrace-to 
 the conquerors, as well as to the people of the- 
 country ; and therefore it was neceffary to abandon 
 the pretended tribunal of mathematics to Euro- 
 peans. They are ftill in pofleflion of that office ; 
 and in cafe of their- being removed, the firft ca- 
 lendar compcled by the Chinefe would be grofs-ly 
 erroneous ; for as long as they preferve their lan- 
 guage and manner of wri:.ing, it' is impofiible for 
 them to make much progrefs in any of the fciences. 
 Some hiftorians with to perfuade us that ob- 
 fervatories are now feen in China, which were built 
 three thoufand years ago, although no monument, 
 we may aver, in that country can reafonably be fup- 
 pofed to approach fo great antiquity. The only build- 
 ing of the kind, known to us, is at Pekin, and that 
 town was founded by Koublai-Kan in the year one 
 thoufand two hundred and fixty-feven *. The ob- 
 fervatory mud therefore have been erected pofterior 
 to the conqueft of the Mogul Tartars, who, as 
 we have obferved, changed the face of the whole 
 empire. With regard to forhe inftruments, difco- 
 vered on a mountain near Nankin^ they were cer- 
 
 * The part of Pekin called the CLhufi Town was not built 
 until the year 1644. 
 
 c 2 tainly
 
 to PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 tainly made in the year one thoufand three hundred 
 and forty-nine. 
 
 The following obfervation muft appear decifive 
 on this point : the latitude of Pekin is 39 degrees, 
 55 minutes, and 1 5 feconds, which is rather more than 
 in the map of D J Anville ; that of Nankin is 32 degrees, 
 4 minutes, and 3 feconds. Yet the dials and other 
 inftruments, employed at thofe two places, were 
 made to anfwer fomewhat beyond the thirty-fixth 
 degree, and confequently all the obfervations taken 
 by the Chinefe were erroneous. 
 
 Having reflected on this fmgularity. which no 
 perfon had ever explained, it appeared to me at 
 laft, that the inftruments ufed by the Chinefe muft 
 have been copied from thofe adapted to the fchools 
 of Balk. That town is fituated about thirty minutes 
 beyond the thirty-fixth degree *, in the ancient 
 Badriana, where the fciences began to be cultivated 
 by the Greeks, who having obtained the govern- 
 ment of that country under the fucceflbrs of Alex- 
 ander, rendered themfelves independent, and formed 
 an empire extending as far as India f . 
 
 Inftruments, calculated for the latitude of Balk, 
 muft therefore have been brought to China in the 
 time of the Moguls j and fuch is the origin of the 
 moft abfurd error ever adopted in any country. At 
 
 * In D'Anville's great map of Afia, Balk is fomewhat more 
 to the north : but an Arab named Eben-Said\iiiS placed it in 35 
 degrees and 54 minutes. 
 
 f Bayer, Hittoria Rcgtii Grsscorum, Ba&riani ; and a memoir 
 of Mr. de Guignes. 
 
 the
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. ai 
 
 the arrival of the Jefuits, the Chinefe maintained 
 that all the towns of China were fituated in the 
 thirty-fixth degree. This is acknowledged even by 
 Father Kircher, who adds, that they had no idea 
 whatever of longitude *. Thus they muft be al- 
 lowed to have been as ignorant of the hiftory of \he 
 earth, which they fuppofed to be fquare, as of the 
 fky, where they believed the planets to be equally 
 elevated with the ftars. 
 
 It muft be confefled that the Romans, for fome 
 time, did really ufe a folar dial, formed for the lati- 
 tude of Catania, without perceiving their error. 
 Rome however had not then beenbuilt more than three 
 hundred and four years ; and that term is very in- 
 fufficient for any nation to acquire even the firft prin- 
 ciples of aftronomy. But when the Chinefe fell 
 into fuch abfurdities, they had already exifted as a 
 nation, according to their authentic annals, during 
 more than three thoufand years. 
 
 As to the obfervatory of the province of Ho-nan, 
 it deferves to be placed, with the fabulous palace of 
 the emprefs Ta-kia 9 among the edifices which never 
 exifted. Father Martini is the only perfon who af- 
 ferts that the town of Teng-fong-bien contains a pro- 
 digious rule of brafs, placed perpendicularly on a 
 plate of the fame metal ; and he then proceeds to 
 fpeak of a tower, built near three thoufand years 
 ago, where the pretended Chinefe aftronomer Tcheou- 
 Kong obferved the movements of the heavenly 
 bodies. This huge rule and plate of brafs have 
 
 * China Illuftrata, p. 102. in folio. 
 
 c 3
 
 22 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 been changed by Father du lialde into a fimp'e in- 
 ilrument, and Mr. Boyfen, \vhen fpeaking of the 
 town of Teng-fotJg-bien, mentions nothing more 
 than the tower. Thus we find the obfervatory clif- 
 appears entirely, except a few heaps of {tones, which 
 are fuppofed to have belonged to fomeihing of the 
 kind : but if the learned of Europe had an oppor- 
 tunity of vifiting the fpot, they might be at a loi's 
 to find thofe ruins, as well as the extraordinary 
 things introduced by Father Martini to embellifh hi^ 
 book. The whole work, indeed, is fo fhamefully 
 incorrect, that it might with more propriety be called 
 a collection of common reports than an Atlas. 
 
 If China contained any monuments of great an- 
 tiquity, we might expect to find them among ihe 
 tombs of the emperors. But being all formed of 
 wood, they have disappeared entirely, either from 
 the effects of time, humidity, or fire. It is cuf- 
 tomary to have them furrounded wiih thick fqrefls 
 of cypreiTes, or thofe firs called by Mr. Ofbcck 
 abics Sinews, which are devoted to the flames by 
 the people, whenever they become difcontented with 
 the reigning dynafty. Befides, when the robbers 
 grow powerful, and fpread themfelves over the can- 
 tons, where any imperial tombs are found, they pil- 
 lage them fo completely, that even the roofs are not 
 left (landing. The hiilory of China frequently men- 
 tions fuch difafters, which cannot be avoided, be- 
 caufe the Miao, if- formed in tjje rnidfl of towns, 
 would foon transform them into bury ing-grounds, 
 princes, the governors, and the- great mancla-
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 33 
 
 rines, muft have their places of fepulture (haded with 
 trees, planted in quincunx to a very great diftance, 
 and much foil fit for culture has been wafted, to 
 gratify this obftinacy. 
 
 ^Vn Egyptian law, preferved by Plato, declares 
 that no perfon fhould be buried on any fpot capable 
 of producing a tree. We know to a certainty, that 
 the Pharaohs, even to the dynafty of the Saitte, 
 conformed themfelves to this wife regulation ; for 
 not even a fhrub could be planted either in the en- 
 virons of the pyramids, or around the royal fepul- 
 chres of Thebes. But this is not the only circum- 
 ftance, in which the two nations differ with regard 
 to their funeral ceremonies ; for in general they are 
 void of every kind of analogy. 
 
 However defirous we may be of knowing the fpe- 
 cies of architecture, and tafle of ornaments, exhi- 
 bited on the tombs of the Chinefe emperors, yet 
 unfortunately no fiich information is to be ex- 
 pected from the accounts of the Jefuits. All 
 they have written on that fubject can be con- 
 fidered only as a collection of fictions ; and to prove 
 this, we fhall, however unwillingly, infert here the 
 deicription given by Father du. Halde of the pre- 
 tended tomb of Schi-chuan-di : 
 
 This prince, fays lie, chofe for his fepulchre the 
 mount LY. Pit- caufed it to be hollowed out, as one may 
 fay, even to the centre of the earth. Above ^ he ercded 
 (i maiifol&um, which rsfemblcd a mountain, Jive hun- 
 dred feet high, and at leaf I half a league in circum- 
 ference. In the middle was a rich coffin ; and around 
 
 C 4 /'/
 
 it were lamps and flambeaux, kept burning 'with human 
 fat. Within the tomb, on one fide, appeared a vaft 
 lake of quickfiher, on which were feen many birds of 
 gold and fifoer : while the other fide exhibited a com- 
 plete ajjortment of furniture and arms. Thottfands of 
 precious jewels were Jirewed here and there. It 
 had cojl not only immenfe fums of money, but 
 likewife the lives of many perfens ; for befides the 
 fervants of the palace, who fujfered death, upwards 
 
 often thoufand workmen were buried there alive 
 
 All at once the people, 'who could no longer fupport 
 the yoke, flew to arms. Hang-fi deiwlijhtd the vaft 
 inclofures. The coffin Jlill remained ; until ajhepherd, 
 it is faid, when looking for a ftray Jheep in the midjl 
 of the ruins, let fall feme fparks of fire which con- 
 fumed them altogether *. 
 
 Such a defcription does not deferve to be feverely 
 cr-iticifed, becaufe whoever reads it with the fmalleft 
 reflection mufl be fufficiently difgufted. Thofe lamps 
 with human greafe, and birds of gold fwimming on 
 mercury within a tomb, are fuch childifh prodigies, 
 that our moft wretched writers of romance would 
 fcarccly infert them among fairy-tales. Father du 
 Halde might furely have exaggerated, in a far more 
 ingenious manner, concerning China. 
 
 Through this cloud of fables, however, we dif- 
 cover two certain facts : in the firft place, the tomb 
 mud have been wood, from its being deftroyed by 
 fire; and we perceive likewife that unfortunate 
 wretches were flaughtered on fuch occafions. 
 
 * Defcription of China, vol. ii. 
 
 The
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 15 
 
 The emperor Schi-chuan-di defcended from a 
 Chinefe family of Tzin, and hated the Tartars, with 
 whom he was frequently at war. Thus, it could not 
 be from them, that he had borrowed the cuftom of 
 immolating human victims ; but he found it already 
 eftablifhed in China, where it is continued at the 
 prefent day. Even the Jefuits authorife us to enter- 
 tain great and melancholy fufpicions on that head, 
 when they fay that the emperor Can-hi made a law 
 to prevent the practice of facrificing flaves at the de- 
 ceafe of princes of the blood ; and yet, fome time 
 after, women were ftrangled at the obfequies of Ta- 
 vang, brother to the emperor Can-hi. This execu- 
 tion is fo recent, that living witnefles of the fact 
 might now be found at Pekin. Confidering the ob- 
 ftinacy of the Chinefe in perfifting to deftroy their 
 children with a brutal ferocity fo well known, it is 
 certainly not very aftoniming to find them continu- 
 ing to immolate human victims. Unenlightened as 
 they are by philofophy, it is as difficult for them to 
 make any progrefs in morality, as in the arts and 
 fciences. At the funerals of private people, ftatues 
 of paper, representing male and female fervants, are 
 always thrown into the fire j and we may prefume, 
 that this ceremony was invented by poor people, who 
 had no Haves to facrifice at their interments. Indeed 
 we can eafily conceive that few, except the emperors 
 and princes, were in a fituation to make fuch coftly 
 offerings, Mr. le Gentil obferves on this occafion, 
 in his Voyage round the World, that a great mixture 
 of Indian cufloms is perceptible at the funerals of 
 2 the
 
 afi PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 the Chinefe. In fact their religion is a chaos of prac- 
 tices, adopted partly from the Indians, and dill more 
 perhaps from the Scythians, who, according to Hero- 
 dotus, always interred feme Haves and concubines 
 with the corpfe of their fovereign. This is very 
 conformable to the dreadful fcenes exhibited under 
 Can-hi at. the obfequies of Ta-vang. 
 
 The paffion of the Chinefe for the number nine 
 muil likewife be counted among the fuperftitions 
 they have in common with the Tartars. Many 
 fleeples, or towers of nine (lories, are feen through- 
 out the whole country, merely from a whimfical in- 
 clination for this number. The fame circumftance 
 gives rife to the humiliating ceremony of bowir.g 
 nine times, on approaching the throne of the em- 
 perors of China ; and we learn from the hiflory of 
 Gengis-Kan, that it was likewife eflablifhed at the 
 court of that prince *. 
 
 Among all the towers of nine (lories in China, 
 not one is built of porcelain, as fome amplifiers have 
 afierted in their relations. What gave rife to this 
 fable is a (leeple in the neighbourhood of Nankin, 
 in erecting which the Tartars employed bricks of a 
 quality rather better than ordinary, and impreiTed 
 with figures by means of moulds. Father du Halde, 
 after giving a kind of description of this Building, 
 which he embelliflies as much as poffible, by adopt- 
 ing the (lyle of Father le Cqmte, finjfhcs with thefe 
 exprefljons : This, fays he, is what the Chhcfe call 
 Porcelain To^er ; although perhaps fonic of our 
 
 * Petit tic la Cr&ix, Tlift. dc GerirnVkan.
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. i.j 
 
 Europeans might affccl to Jlyle it the Tower of Brick *. 
 Thofe, who give it that name, are furely far from 
 being blameable ; for not a fmgle piece of any thing 
 like porcelain can be found in the whole edifice. 
 
 This tower is remarkable for a degree of folidity, 
 very uncommon in the buildings of that country ; 
 and, in face, it was not conftrucled by the Chinefe, 
 but by Koubiai-Kan,- in commemoration of his con- 
 queft. On this account it has always been reflected 
 by the Mandhuis, while many others in the vicinity 
 of Nankin were pillaged and deftroyed, when that 
 town was taken. Even the Tartars themfelves, al- 
 though defirous of preferving more fevere difcipline, 
 could not then reftrain their victorious troops ; who, 
 as the Chinefe pretend, among other excefles le- 
 velled the royal fepiilchres and fet fire to the facred 
 groves. Anciently, indeed, prodigious tracts planted 
 with cyprefles, ferved there as an inclofure to fome 
 wooden edifices. But it cannot be confidered as a 
 great misfortune, that fuch forefts, equally ufelefs 
 both to gods and men, mould be reduced to ames, 
 that the foil, as is now really the cafe, might ferve 
 for tillage. NieuhofF, who vifited Nankin foon after 
 this event, found tranquillity already re-eftablifhed in 
 that town. We muft therefore confider as fabulous 
 what Father le Comte has related of the Tartars 
 having carried all the Chinefe women to market in 
 facks ; where he pretends they were fold, without 
 diftinclion of age or rank, to the higheft bidders. 
 He even adds, that thofe, who perceived any figns 
 
 * Defcription of China, vol. II. 
 
 of
 
 a 8 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 of decrepitude on the unfortunate beings they had 
 purchafed in this manner, threw them without 
 mercy into the river. This ftory feems to be founded 
 folely on the cuftom of the Tartars, when they gain 
 a battle, of cutting off the ears of the dead, and 
 filling nine facks. We know how often they prac- 
 tifed the fame thing in Poland ; as well as in Bo- 
 hemia, at the defeat of the duke Henry, near Lig- 
 nitz, in the year one thoufand two hundred and 
 forty-two. Some corps of Eleuths and Calmucs 
 having been vanquifhed by the emperor of China in 
 one thoufand fix hundred and ninety-fix, he ordered 
 their long hair to be cut off, and collected likewife 
 into nine facks. 
 
 The Brick-Tower of nine (lories, concerning 
 which we have already fpoken, is garnifhed on the 
 outfide, like many others, with rows of fmall bells., 
 and the noife they produce, when fhaken by the 
 wind, is very difagreeable. Some have pretended 
 that thefe chimes refembled what was feen on an 
 Etrufcan monument fomewhere near Clufium ; and 
 the Etrufcans, they add, were clofely connected with 
 the Egyptians, whofe works they copied continually. 
 But we mould obferve, that Pliny gives us very 
 plainly to underftand, that the monument of Clufium 
 never exifled. We are therefore at a lofs to know 
 whether Varro amufed himfelf with inventing this 
 fable, or had really extracted what he relates from 
 fome obfcure romance *, The idea of any great 
 
 * Pliny appears to infmuate that the defcription of the monu- 
 ment of Clufium was taken from that colle&ion of fables which he 
 " 1j s fabula Eirufca. 
 
 inter-
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 29 
 
 mtercourfe between the Egyptians and Etrufcans 
 feems to be founded entirely on a pafiage of Strabo^ 
 badly interpreted, added to the opinion of fome mo- 
 dern Italians. The Abbe Winckelman could not dif- 
 cover any refemblance whatever in the monuments of 
 thofe two nations, who, according to all appear- 
 ances, were as little connected as the Laplanders and 
 the Spaniards. 
 
 The Chinefe, perfuaded that nothing in architec- 
 ture can be more magnificent than their tower of 
 nine ftories, are conftantly forming models of fuch 
 building about two feet high, and covered with mo- 
 ther of pearl. They endeavour to difpoie of fuch 
 baubles to European merchants, taking care to add 
 a certain number of thofe fmall flatues, called idols 
 by the miflionaries, but known to us by the name of 
 Chinefe figures. They are certainly intended to repre- 
 fent tutelary genii, and local divinities ; for the nume- 
 rous fteeples, concerning which travellers have pro- 
 pofed fo many conjectures, can be nothing but pago- 
 das. Thence the alarm is fpread, in cafe of fire, and on 
 thefe the hours are indicated by fand-glafles, which 
 are however far from being exact. Prior to the 
 year one thoufand five hundred and fixty, not one 
 good fun-dial could be found in all China : neither 
 were any of the lettered there acquainted with the 
 firfl principles of gnomonics, or capable, fays Father 
 Greflon, of calculating a meridian made. 
 
 With regard to the Pai-leou, generally believed to 
 be triumphal arches, not one of them approaches 
 what we call the New Gothic j and the greater part, 
 
 as
 
 ?0 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATION? 
 
 as Father le Comte acknowledges, do not defen'e 
 confiderarion*. Yet the paflion of the Chinefe for 
 thofe buildings is very great ; and the fmalleft towns 
 wafte much timber in that way, which would be 
 much better employed in conftructing huts for thofe 
 miferable Troglodytes, concerning whom we fhall 
 have occafion to fpeak hereafter. It is neceiTaiy to 
 remark, that this was far from being the tafte of the 
 Egyptians, who never had even a veftige of any tri- 
 umphal arch, until after the conquefl of the Greeks, 
 .or rather of the Romans. What is feen in the en- 
 virons of Enjcm^ or Antlnoopolis^ is a work of the 
 emperor Adrian ; and to me it appears to be no- 
 thing more than a portico. 
 
 Among the Pai-leou of China, none can be con- 
 fidered, either from their ftru&ure or characters, as 
 very ancient ; and Father du Halde confiders the in- 
 fcription on the brazen column, erected, according 
 to him, about the year fifty of our era, as furpaffing 
 in antiquity all other monuments of the empire f . 
 But that pillar > fuppofed to be feen on the frontiers 
 of Tonquin, appears very fufpicious : no traveller 
 can fay any thing with certainty further than that 
 the Tonquinefe have covered it, as we are told, with 
 a heap of ftones ; and eonfequently indeed not much 
 is to be feen. Befides, when we attend to that long 
 fucceffion of ages mentioned by all the chronicles of 
 China, it muft be allowed, that an infcription of 
 one tlicufand feven hundred years is very modern. 
 
 ' New Memoirs on China, letter iii. 
 I Dcfcription of China, vol. i. 
 
 No
 
 OtfTHE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 31 
 
 No circumftance has enabled us to form any judg* 
 ment on forr.e characters, faid to be found on the 
 Van-ly-czin ; but if they have not been added, when 
 the wall received fome repairs, \ve mufl confider 
 them as more ancient than the column of brafs. 
 
 Great fimplicity prevails in the interior of the 
 Chinefe houfes, as well as throughout the other 
 defpotic dates of Afia ; where the poverty of the 
 people and continual diitrufts prevent the acquifition 
 of much furniture. Riches are there buried in the 
 earth, rather than expofed to fuch rifles ; and the 
 fame utenfils are employed to various purpofes. 
 Yet neither in Turkey, nor Perfia, are fuch miferable 
 families to be found as in China, where they are 
 deftitute of all the conveniencies of life. Exclufive 
 of thofej who in the fouthern provinces live entirely 
 on fifh, and remain conftantly in their barks without 
 clothes of any kind, many have nothing more than 
 holes in the earth for their habitation. Thirty 
 lys from Ho-lou after having paifed Tchang-nan, 
 fays Father Fontaney, whole families ,of Chi- 
 nefe are feen living in grottos ; for China alfo, he 
 adds, has its Troglodytes *. Not far beyond the 
 town of Phig-tengi great numbers inhabit caverns 
 ten or twelve feet broad and twenty long, one of 
 which frequently contains feveral families. 
 
 It is credible that thefe Troglodytes, rendered at 
 times defperate by this mifery> aifociate with the rob- 
 bers and certain bands of men who wander with 
 fome few flocks in the interior provinces, where no 
 
 * Journal of Travels from Pekin to Kiang-tcheou. 
 
 figns
 
 3* PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 iigns appear of agriculture. Their mode of living 
 may be rendered more evident by the example of 
 thofe Nomades in Spain, who wander with their cat* 
 tie from Lerida in Catalonia to the very plains of An- 
 dalufia, without finding the fmalleft obftrudion in all 
 .that prodigious diftance. It is eafy to conceive, that, 
 in a well-cultivated country, this could not be per- 
 mitted, and that fuch flocks mufl feed only on deferted 
 fields or barren lands, where no perfon is interefled 
 to have the limits afcertained. In the vaft folitudes 
 of China, and even in thofe of Tartary, the monks 
 of fome temples and bonzeries have formed com- 
 modious dwellings, and admirable gardens watered 
 by rivulets, which are conducted from the mountains 
 in artificial cafcades. Thefe hermits, who are no- 
 thing better than thofe of Europe, could not fleep 
 one night at their eafe, if the banditti of China were 
 lefs religious : but they refpect the pagodas, or pil- 
 lage them only in the greatefl extremity. It is be- 
 iides poflible, that the holy men, who inhabit them, 
 being in correfpondence with the robbers, aflift 
 in concealing their plunder. In this likewife a re- 
 femblance is found with the monafteries in the de- 
 ferts of Spain and Portugal ; and we may therefore 
 pronounce woe to that country, which contains wan- 
 dering mepherds and hermits. 
 
 Near the principal towns of China, fome villages 
 here and there have houfes covered with tiles. On 
 advancing into the centre of the country, the beft 
 buildings are wretched cottages of mud, thatched 
 with rufhes, and in many towns of the fecond rank 
 
 clay
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 33 
 
 clay alone is ufed for the walls of the dwellings. As 
 the Chinefe have never fucceeded in glafs-work, no- 
 thing of the kind is feen even in the windows of 
 their palaces. The faloon, wher6 the emperor Can- 
 hi gave audience to the Ruffian ambaflador, fays 
 Brandt, had wretched preparations of paper to ad- 
 mit the light * ; becaufe the glafs-houfes eflablifhed 
 by that prince were then, and are {till, incapable of 
 producing any thing to anfwer that purpofe. In 
 fome provinces waxed filks, {hells, and mother-of- 
 pearl, are ufed for windows. This likewife is the cafe 
 in the cathedral of Goa : but fuch fubftances admit 
 very little light, becaufe they are lefs tranfparent 
 than horn, or the fpecular ftone.of the ancients, of 
 which fome fragments are preferved in the churches 
 of Italy. 
 
 It is curious enough to fee the Chinefe forming ar- 
 tificial rocks in what they call gardens ; and then 
 afking Europeans, if their artifts could produce any 
 thing fo magnificent. They might be anfvvered, 
 that to heap up {tones at random requires neither 
 genius, art, induftry, tafte, nor any notion of the 
 beautiful and ufeful. They would therefore aft more 
 wifely by fowing fuch fpots with rice or wheat, to 
 render famine lefs fatal in China. We are affured 
 
 * Befchreibung einer groffen Chinefifchen R.eife. Brandt fays 
 likewife that this faloon had no ceiling of any kind, fo that the 
 roof was feen in the apartment, as in moft of the Chinefe build- 
 ings, of which a tent has evidently been the model. The pillars, 
 it fhould be remarked, are not always round, but frequently cut 
 into five and feven faces. 
 
 VOL. ii. D that
 
 $4 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 that the empire contains two thoufand mountains; 
 and nothing can be more fbolifh than to augment the 
 number, inftead of endeavouring to render the coun- 
 try more level. Every perfon knows, without our 
 dwelling on the circumftance here, that neither the 
 Chinefe quarter, nor that of the Tartars in Pekin, 
 contains any temples or public edifices fuperior in 
 ftru&ure or magnificence to thofe of the other towns. 
 The emperor, who alone has the privilege of offering 
 folemn facrifices to the genii of the fky, the earth, 
 the mountains, rivers, and valleys, never perform- 
 the ceremony but under tents. This cuftom, which 
 mould be confidered as very ancient, is likewife con- 
 formable to what we have faid concerning the primi- 
 tive ftate of the Chinefe, when they were wont to 
 encamp like the Tartars. The tents employed for 
 thefe facriftces, are pitched during the days of the 
 folemnity in the Tien-tang, and the Ti-tang ; and 
 they are afterwards preftrved with the facred vafes 
 and tablets. Two particular houfes are deftined to 
 receive them : the one, confecrated to the genius of 
 the fky, is round ; and the other, facred to the 
 genius of the earth, is fquare, according to the ad- 
 mirable cofmography of Han-li, and the profound 
 know'edge of the lettered in China. They all 
 agreed that our world is a cube, and not a globe ; 
 and the architects were obliged of courfe to comply 
 in the beft manner they could with the decifion. 
 Mr. Chambers, who did not attend to thefe circum- 
 ftances, is greatly deceived, when he compares the 
 Chinefe pavilions to the monopteral temples of the 
 
 ancients. 
 
 3
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 35 
 
 ancients. By fuch extravagant inferences, all the 
 parts of Grecian architecture might be difcovered in 
 the palace of Pekin, as it is defcribed by Ifbrant 
 Ides. Befides, Mr. Chambers does not feem to have 
 been informed of a fact relating to the pagodas of 
 Fo, feen in China : we are aflfured by a traveller, that 
 their plan and interior difpofition refemble almofl in 
 every point thofe of the pagodas of Hindooftan. Thus 
 it is fcarcely to be doubted, that this mode of build- 
 ing was unknown to the Chinefe, prior to the intro- 
 duction of the worfhip of Fo t the epoch of which is 
 lefs ancient than our prefent era. Even admitting 
 that Lao-kium had made a journey to India, as might 
 well have happened, it is certain that he did not eila- 
 blifh the true religion of that country in China. 
 
 The ftate of architecture among the Egyptians is 
 an immenfe fubject ; but we mail endeavour to include 
 in a few pages what feems mod interefting. Thofe 
 people were always building : one great work pro- 
 duced -another ftill more prodigious ; and if fortune 
 had preferved them from the yoke of the Perfians and 
 of the Greeks, they would have endeavoured to level 
 the mountains of Thebais, rather than remain idle. 
 All their obelifks are fo much alike, that when they 
 have no characters, it is very difficult to diftinguifh 
 them one from another. It feems ftrange, that they 
 did not grow weary of rearing fuch monuments ; and 
 yet among their laft kings we find Amafis and Neda- 
 nebus, continuing thofe laborious undertakings with 
 
 as much ardor, as any of their numerous prede- 
 ceflbrs 
 
 B a Mr*
 
 3 s PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 Mr. Le Roy mud be deceived, when he pretends^ 
 that the ruftic flied had been adopted by the Egyptians j 
 in the fame manner that Vitruvius fays it ferved among 
 the Greeks, as a model for the moft fuperb edifices 
 on earth *. Every thing tends to prove that the 
 Egyptians, prior to their being united as a nation, 
 lived like Troglodytes in the caverns of Ethiopia. 
 Thus a grotto, rather than a cottage, muft have af- 
 forded the firft notions of their architecture. The 
 favages of Greece, on the contrary, from the diver- 
 fity of foil and climate, which in fuch cafes has a 
 great influence, were under the neceffity of erecting 
 huts. No refemblance therefore ever exifted be- 
 tween the roofs of the Grecian temples and thofe of 
 the Egyptians ; and as the latter were entirely flat, 
 they could not have been copied after the ruftic JJied 
 of Vitruvius. 
 
 Pharaoh Amafis caufed a huge piece of hollow 
 rock to be brought from the vicinity of Elephantis, 
 and placed it before the portico of the temple of 
 Minerva in the town of Sais. The Greeks, who com- 
 pofed words at will, called the interior of this flone a 
 monolitbe chamber ; and the firft idea of fuch an apart- 
 ment muft evidently have been taken from a grotto. 
 
 When we reflect on the prodigious excavations^ 
 made continually by the Egyptians in their moun- 
 tains, and the fingular predilection of the priefts for 
 thofe caverns, where they pafled the greater part of 
 their lives, it is no longer doubtful, that, in former 
 times, they had lived like Troglodytes. Thence are 
 
 Ruins of the nobleft Monuments of Greece, vol. i. 
 
 derived
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 37 
 
 derived likewife all the characteriftics of their 
 edifices : fome feem to be factitious rocks, where 
 the walls exceed twenty-four feet in thicknefs ; and 
 pillars of more than thirty feet in circumference are 
 not at all uncommon. If any thing can be com- 
 pared to what thefe extraordinary people erected on 
 the furface of the earth, it mufl be their fubterra- 
 neoiis labors, Some ancient authors had good in- 
 formation, that different apartments were conftructed 
 an hundred and fixty feet below the pyramids, com- 
 municating with each other by paffages, to which 
 Ammianus Marcellinus has given the Greek name 
 of fyringes *. The only one of thefe now known is 
 that leading through the moft northern of all the 
 pyramids ; and it becomes every year more imper- 
 fect, from the rolling in of fand and ruins. Yet 
 Profper Alpin aflures us, that, about the year one 
 thoufand five hundred and eighty-five, a man, hav- 
 ing defcended there with a compafs, arrived at the 
 place where the way divides into two ramifications, 
 one taking a fouthern, and the other an eaftern di- 
 rection. This could no longer be traced by Maillet, 
 Greves, Thevenot, Vanfleb, and Father Sicard, who 
 came many years later ; and as to Belo, his negli- 
 gence in defcribing this monument is fuch, that what 
 he relates does not deferve a perufal f. 
 
 Herodotus knew beyond a doubt that, after de- 
 fcending below ground, a. perfon could pafs into th 
 
 * Lib. xxii. 
 
 t In the 2 2 8th page of his Olfervations he makes the (hell of 
 the great pyramid twice as long as it really is 
 
 i> 3 apartments
 
 3* PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 apartments of the pyramid of the labyrinth. As 
 this is exa&ly the cafe in that of Memphis, the in- 
 terior Jifpofition of which is perfectly well known at 
 the prefent day, we have every reafon to believe, that 
 the fame mode of comtrudion was common to the 
 other monuments of that kind. They all muft have 
 had fubrerraneous vaults, and iecret paflages, like 
 that difcovered in the thirtieth degree of latitude, 
 which ever fmce the time of Pliny has been impro- 
 perly taken for a pit. Yet no water could poflibly 
 enter there, any more than into the catacombs of 
 Sahara, where the ground is ilill lefs elevated ; for 
 all thefe excavations are formed in calcareous fub- 
 ftances, where no humidity can remain. Strabo has. 
 indicated a Serapeum^ or chapel of Serapis, amidfl 
 the moving fands to the weft of Memphis, which 
 appears to have been the real ipot where the mouths 
 of the different gallerie*, leading below the pyramids 
 of Gizeb, were united. 
 
 Among the crypts and grottos of Heptanomis and 
 Thebais, thoie of Alyi and H;pponon are large enough 
 to contain a thoufand horfes : we know thole of Speos 
 Artemidos^ of Hieracon, Selinon, Anttfopoiis, and Siljili j 
 as well as the iyringes, or iubterraneous paflages 
 mentioned by Paufanias, in the vicinity of the vocal 
 ftatue * . But although travellers meet with others 
 every day, they have not yet difcovered the one hun- 
 dredth part of fuch excavations. We cannot how- 
 ever admit entirely the tradition, credited in ancient 
 times, which reported that the whole town of Thebes 
 
 * Lib. i. in Attic, cap. 42. 
 
 was
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. & 
 
 was fituated over crypts, and that their ramifications 
 extended under the bed of the Nile *. What might 
 have given credit to this is the circumftance of cer- 
 tain grottos being really feen on the banks of the 
 river, between Korna and Habou, where it is faid the 
 firfl kings of Egypt were wont to lodge, prior to the 
 building of Thebes. 
 
 To the north-weft of Korna are thofe excavations, 
 called by the Arabs Biban-el-Moluk. Concerning the 
 purpofe to which they were deftined no doubt was 
 ever entertained either by the ancients or the mo- 
 derns. They are in fad the tombs of the firil dynaf- 
 ties, or royal families ; and thofe, who place the bo- 
 dies of the ancient Pharaohs in the pyramids, are 
 egregiouily miftaken. At Biban-el-Moluk not one 
 fingle ftone has the lead of a pyramidical figure ; and 
 this confirms us in the opinion, that none of the 
 chambers in the pyramids of Memphis ever contained 
 any mummies : but they were placed many feet be- 
 low the foundation of thofe edifices, the form of 
 which, in the Egyptian worfhip, had no refemblance 
 to that of the tombs. 
 
 Some of the grottos we have mentioned contained 
 embalmed bodies, and they were generally kept in an 
 upright pofture, as occupying leafl fpace. That rule 
 feems indeed to have been always obferved, except 
 with the kings, who lay at full length in the farco- 
 phagi. We mud not give entire credit, as fome 
 have done, to a paflage of Siiius Italicus ; which be* 
 fi4es does not concern the attitude of the mummiwS 
 
 * Plin. Hilt. Nat. lib. xxxvi. cap. 14. 
 
 D 4 in
 
 4 o PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 in the cells, but the manner of placing them in the 
 houfes. This bad poet wifhes to infinuate, without 
 any appearance of truth, that the Egyptians aflem- 
 bled their dead around the tables of the living *. 
 
 Egypt had likewife caverns, which were never ufed 
 as fepulchres : fuch was that of Diana, or the Speos 
 Artemidos, ftill feen at Beni-Hafan ; and the figures, 
 fculptured there, have certainly not been executed 
 by the Greeks. Many others of the fame kind were 
 cut in the rocks of Ethiopia -f- ; where, we learn 
 from Bermudez, the priefls initiated, or offered 
 facrinces, and even retired to ftudy J. We have 
 been told of a certain Pancrates, who did not leave 
 thofe dreary abodes during a period -of twenty-four 
 years ; and it is generally fuppofed, that Orpheus, 
 Eumolpus, and Pythagoras, were admitted there like- 
 wife. 
 
 On confidering this mode of ftudying under 
 ground, it no longer appears aftonifhing, that the 
 priefts contracted the habit of throwing a myflerious 
 veil over all their real or imaginary knowledge. 
 Thus, in many circumftances, it is as difficult to de- 
 termine the extent of their erudition, as that of their 
 
 JEgyptia tellus. 
 
 Condit odorats pofl funus Jlantla luflo 
 
 Corpora ; & a menjis exfangitem haud feparat umlram. Lib. xiii. 
 f Alvarez, Rerum ^Ethiopicar. 
 
 J Propheta JEgyptiorum non fermittunt ut metalli, artifices, fculpto* 
 refque Decs reprefenleri, ne a recepta ale ant forma ; fed illudunt vu!go t 
 dum in templorum atriis accipitrum ilidumque roftra fculpl curattt t 
 fubeuntes interea facra fubterranea qua profundis illorum myfteriis 
 velamcntofunt. S nr^ius. 
 
 ignorance j
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. ^ 
 
 ignorance ; and therefore fuch oppofite judgments 
 have been formed concerning their philofophy, which 
 fome confine to a very fmall fcale, while others con- 
 fider it as almoft boundlefs : but it is truly interefting 
 to obferve, that the cuflom of retiring into cells, 
 practifed by the priefls, gave rife to the myfteries of 
 antiquity. Without this, none perhaps would ever 
 have been invented 3 and wherefoever thofe of Egypt 
 were received, the mode of celebrating them in ca- 
 verns was likewife adopted, until the inftitution be- 
 came at length eflentially changed. Bifhop Warbur-* 
 ton led all Europe into errors, concerning the pre- 
 tended fecret revealed to the perfons initiated in 
 Egypt, becaufe he confidered the letter, faid to be. 
 written by Alexander to his mother, as authentic. 
 In fact it was the invention of fome Chriftian ; 
 and a grofler fraud was never pradifed. Mr. Sil- 
 houette, who tranflared thele fragments of Warbur- 
 ton, fhould have perceived the ridiculoufnefs of pla- 
 cing in Egypt a liigh-prieft called Leon. Never before 
 the conqueft of Alexander did any Egyptian prieft 
 bear that name ; and it would not be more abfurd to 
 pretend that an emperor of China was called Charles 
 Martel *. Much more might be faid here, concern- 
 ing the fuppofed letter, were it not now allowed to 
 be apocryphal by all the learned of Europe. Befides, 
 how could the initiated be told, that the gods of 
 Egypt had been mortals, when it is known that the 
 
 * Mr. Silhouette cites this letter of Alexander to refute the 
 Abbe Pluche, who belkved the mylteries were relative to agricul- 
 ture, 
 
 Egyptians,
 
 4 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 Egyptians, fo far from ever adoring deified men, 
 held that kind of worfhip in the greateft abhorrence ? 
 
 The myfteries feem to have been originally a fecret 
 inftruction, given only to the priefts, who, prior to 
 their confecration, experienced a panic terror. They 
 were afterwards conducted by dark windings to a 
 place very full of light ; and this fuggefted the idea 
 of copying the phenomena of thunder and lightning, 
 as we have already mentioned in the firft volume of 
 thefe refearehes. All the priefts of Egypt without 
 exception were to be initiated, as Diodorus fays, in 
 what were called the myfteries of the god Pan ; and 
 not one of them efcaped a panic terror in the obfcu- 
 rity of the fubterraneous paflages *. 
 
 This tafte for myfteries and enigmas was introduced 
 among the common people, and produced no incon- 
 fiderable effect on their character. It cannot be 
 denied, that the deputies of the provinces, or 
 Nomes, might at times in their aflemblies have 
 treated of fuch important matters as required the 
 greateft fecrecy : but we muft allow that none, but 
 the Egyptians, would ever have thought of afiem- 
 bling their national reprefentatives in a labyrinth, 
 to which they were conducted by the moft ob* 
 
 * It does not appear that the Egyptians ever revealed the great 
 myfteries to any who did not belong to the facerdotal clafs ; ex- 
 cept perhaps to Pythagoras. In time, every perfon who was not 
 guilty of fome public crime could obtain admiffion to the lefler 
 myfteries. Thofe vagabonds called Egyptian priefts in Greece 
 and Italy required confiderable fums for initiations j and the 
 gypfies praftife funilar mummeries to obtain money. 
 
 fcure
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. *j 
 
 fcure windings, as Pliny attefls in pofitive 
 terms *- 
 
 The Chinefe have no word in their language to ex- 
 prefs a labyrinth ; becaufe nothing approaches that 
 form among all the edifices of their country. It 
 may be boldly afierted, that they are incapable at 
 this day of conceiving any idea of fuch a building, 
 either from plan or defcription. Even the learned 
 of Europe cannot flatter themfelves with having 
 formed very accurate notions concerning the laby- 
 rinth j for although many of its ruins ilill remain, 
 yet travellers in general mifs the fpot, moft probably 
 by directing their refearches too far towards the weft. 
 Paul Lucas, who could not write, and his compiler 
 Fourmont, may eafily be excufed for miftaking the 
 ruins of the caftle of Caron for fragments of that 
 fabric ; but it is unpardonable in Father Sicard, and 
 Mr. Pococke, to fall into the fame error. This pre- 
 tended caftle of Caron, according to different plans, 
 feems to have been a chapel of Serapis, fcarcely one 
 hundred feet in length, without any appearance 
 either of a pyramid, or labyrinth : while Strabo 
 aflures us, that thole perfons, who vifited the ter- 
 race of the labyrinth, faw around them a whole 
 country covered with hewn ftones ; and the view was 
 terminated by an edifice of a pyramidical form. 
 
 Thus we perceive how many difficulties are en- 
 countered by thofe, who ftudy the monuments of a 
 country, concerning which the moderns have con- 
 
 * Majorem autem in parts tranfitus eH per tenebras. Lib. xxxvi. 
 tap. 13. 
 
 fpired
 
 4* PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 fpired with the ancients to give us falfe ideas. The 
 latter indeed were probably deceived by being at the 
 difcretion of a fet of men called Interpreters, whofe 
 college was eftablimed in the reign of Pfammeticus ; 
 and who might be compared to thofe people called 
 Ciceroni at Rome. Philofophers, who were really 
 defirous of acquiring information in Egypt, found it 
 abfolutely neceflary to remain there during many 
 years, as we find by the example of Pythagoras, 
 Eudoxius, and Plato. But travellers, who only went 
 and returned, like Herodotus, without knowing a 
 word of the language of the country, could learn 
 nothing but from the interpreters. Thofe men per- 
 ceiving the inclination of the Greeks for the mar- 
 vellous, amufed them like children with flories in- 
 confiflent with common fenfe, and unworthy of the 
 majefty of hiftory. They probably invented the tra- 
 dition adopted at this day, which fays that the py- 
 ramids were erected contrary to the advice of the 
 priefts, who protefted in vain againft fuch undertake 
 ings. Yet we fee very plainly, that they were con- 
 ftrucled particularly under the direction of the facer- 
 dotal clafs j by whofe aid they received an exact pe- 
 tition, either by means of the made of a ftyle, or 
 from obfervations made on fome flar when paffing the 
 meridian. Their real object in this was never re- 
 vealed even to Thales, concerning whom Pliny and 
 Plutarch relate one very great falfehood : they pretend 
 that he taught the Egyptians to meafure the height of 
 the pyramids fry the fliadow, which could never be 
 
 done
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 4$ 
 
 done in the manner they defcribe *. Thales, on ar- 
 riving from Miletus at Heliopolis, was as ignorant as 
 poflible, and knew nothing of either mathematics or 
 aftronomy ; and the little knowledge he acquired af- 
 terwards was entirely due to the priefts of Egypt, 
 whofe fcholar he had been for many years. Such a 
 perfon cannot be fuppofed to have taught his mafters ; 
 and we muft conclude for his honor, that no report 
 of the kind originated with him ; otherwife his ingra- 
 titude would be unpardonable. 
 
 Thofe people have fpoken without reflection, who 
 pretend that the pyramids received a particular pofi- 
 tion, in order to obtain an unchangeable meridian, 
 by which obfervations might be made to determine 
 whether or not the poles are fubjecl to variation. In 
 that cafe, one pyramid would have been fufficient, 
 inflead of rearing fo many along the whole coaft of 
 Libya, from. Memphis to the labyrinth. Neither is 
 it true, that they ever ferved as gnomons, whatever 
 may have been faid to that effect by modern writers t 
 the ancients took care never to aflert any thing 
 of the kind ; perhaps from having already had fome 
 notion of the confumption of made. Solnus, Am- 
 mianus Marcellinus, and Caffiodorius, exprefs them-' 
 felves indeed in a very improper manner on this 
 point ; and all we can conclude from their argu- 
 
 * To obtain the height of a pyramid by its fhadow it is necef- 
 fary to meafure one fide of the bafe and know the middle. As 
 Pliny and Plutarch do not reprefent Tholes as beginning by this 
 operation, we muft confider what they relate concerning this mat- 
 ter as fabulous. 
 
 ments
 
 4 6 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATION^ 
 
 ments amounts to nothing more than that the pyfa-* 
 mids never caft the fmalleft made at any time of the 
 year or day. This, fays Marcellinus, proceeded 
 from the mechanifm of their conftrudion, mechanicd 
 ration^ ; but every perfon mufl perceive, that his 
 mode of reafoning is directly oppofite to the laws of 
 nature *. 
 
 We mall here endeavour, in a few words, to ex- 
 plain this matter. The largeft of the pyramids, 
 fituated in twenty-nine degrees fifty minutes and 
 fome feconds north latitude, begins towards the ver- 
 nal equinox to afford no fhadow at mid-day beyond 
 its bafe ; and thofe, who then walk round this huge 
 mafs of ft ones upwards of five hundred feet high, 
 never lofe fight of the fun. The architects mud 
 have forefeen this effect, proceeding from the pyra- 
 midal form of the edifice ; and the meridian made 
 during one half of the year is confined to the north- 
 ern face, without ever reaching the earth Thus 
 nothing more imperfect, as a fun-dial, could be in- 
 vented than the great pyramid, by which even the 
 period of the fummer folftice cannot be afcertained ; 
 becaufe the fhadow is then too high to be diftinclly 
 perceived. Yet the celebrated chronologifl Vi- 
 gnoles fuppofes that the priefts calculated the equi- 
 
 * Solnus, Polyhift. cap. 4.2. Am. Marcel. Hift. lib. 22. 
 Caflldor. Variarum, lib. 7. As Solnus appears to have been the 
 firft propagator of this error, we fhall quote his own expreflions : 
 Pyramidet turres font in JEgypto fafligiata ultra celfiiudinem omnem, 
 qutjien manu poj/it, itaque menfuram umbrarum egreffle, nullas babent 
 vmbrat. 
 
 noxes
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 44 
 
 ftoxes by means of the pyramids * ; but he would ne- 
 ver have formed this opinion, had his plans of thofe 
 monuments been as exact, and his maps of Egypt as 
 good, as thofe now publimed. 
 
 It fhould be remarked, that the Egyptians obferved 
 no determined proportion between the breadth of 
 the bale, and the height of the pyramids. As their 
 dimenfions varied fo confiderably, no idea could be 
 had of having recourfe to them, in order to find out 
 the equinoctial days ; which, according to Macro- 
 bius, were indicated by fimple ftyles, or, as others 
 pretend, by water-clocks. One fact was entirely un- 
 known to Vignoles : the pyramid, called el Harem el 
 Kieber el Koubli by the Arabs, has a bafe much 
 broader, in proportion to its height, than the great 
 pyramid of Memphis. Thus beginning much fooner 
 than the other to caft no made at mid-day, it cannot 
 fcrve in any manner to indicate the equinoxes. Be- 
 fides, it may be appofite to aik, what means were em- 
 ployed by the priefts of Thebes, who had no pyra- 
 mid in all their country, whatever Abulfeda has af- 
 ferted to the contrary ; and yet their college was the 
 
 * De Annis jEgyptiac. in Mifccll. Berolin. torn. iv. It it 
 merely an effed of chance that the great pyramid begins towards 
 the equinox to confume its fhadow at noon ; for in fome of the 
 others this phenomenon is obfervable feoner. We can fay with 
 certainty that the greateft meridian (hade of the pyramid of 
 Gizeh and all the reft indicates the winter folftice : but it muft 
 have been very difficult to afcertain that of the fummer ; and be- 
 fides, all fuch observations were rendered inaccurate by the pen' 
 umbra. 
 
 firffi
 
 4$ PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 firft in Egypt, as well for aftronomical knowledge, a& 
 in point of antiquity. 
 
 We muft not therefore attribute views to the 
 Egyptians, which they could not have entertained 
 without difcovering a total want of common fenfe. 
 For furely a fimple dial-pin is better adapted to afford 
 exact indications in fuch matters, than any mafs, 
 where the made muft be fo greatly impaired. 
 
 The pyramids, as well as the obelifks, were monu- 
 ments creeled in honor of the Being who enlightens 
 the univerfe ; and this determined the priefts to give 
 them a particular pofition* Sepulchral cells might 
 have been conftructed within thefe edifices, fufficient 
 to contain the bodies of all the royal family. Yet 
 only two apartments are hitherto difcovered, and 
 one fmgle cheft, which, in oppofition to the opinion 
 of Strabo, many enlightened travellers, fuch as 
 Doctor Shaw, do not conceive to be a farcophagus, 
 where any carcafe was ever depofited ; and, in rea- 
 lity, the thing is very improbable. Endlefs conjec- 
 tures have been hazarded ; but hitherto no writer 
 has reflected, that this cheft might be what the Egyp- 
 tians called the *l'omb of OJiris. Many fuch were 
 found throughout the whole country ; and the fuper- 
 ilition, attached to their conftruction, confifted in 
 making the rays of the fun defcend around them, 
 without caufing any made on the ground at mid-day, 
 during at leaft one half of the year. This pheno- 
 menon continued longeft in the fouthern pyramids of 
 Illahon and Haudra, towards the extremity of the 
 plain called Cochome ; and from their ruinous ftate, 
 
 they
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. *, 
 
 they may be confidered as more ancient than thofe of 
 Memphis. The latter are thought ftill capable of re- 
 lifting the lapfe of five thoufand years, according to 
 a calculation formed on the progrefs of their decay 
 fmce the days of Herodotus. That hiftorian men- 
 tions many figures and characters on the exterior of 
 thofe edifices, now no longer vifible ; but Mr. Nor- 
 den fpoke without reflection, when he aflerted, in his 
 Journey through Nubia, that they were conftructed 
 prior to the invention of hieroglyphics. Such mif- 
 takes mock all notions of hiftory j and it were to be 
 defired, that the greater part of travellers, before 
 their departure, or at lead after their return, would 
 take fome pains to improve their ftudies. 
 
 The priefts of ancient Egypt, by determining fo 
 very accurately the pofition of the pyramids, have 
 enabled us to afcertain, that no variation has taken 
 place in the direction of the poles. In vain mould 
 we look on the whole furface of our globe for any 
 Other means of obtaining this information. Had 
 Chaldasa ever poffefled edifices equally folid with thofe 
 of Egypt, fome prodigious ruins would ftill be found 
 there : but from being formed of brick and bitu- 
 men, all the higher parts foon fell afunder; and 
 fome remains are difcovered only at a few feet above 
 the foundation, where the tenacity of the bitumen 
 has been preferved by the humidity. This is moil 
 remarkable in a place fuppofed to be the fite of a 
 temple of Belus ; but fuch matters do not deferve in- 
 veftigation. Befides, in no country do we find Chal- 
 dsean ftatues, or monuments j while all the cabinets 
 VOL. ii, E of
 
 5 o PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 of Europe are furnifhed with Egyptian antiquities^ 
 We may confider as the greateft exaggeration what 
 Ctefias and Diodorus Siculus relate of an obelifk, at- 
 tributed by them to Semiramis, of which no perfon 
 however could fpeak from his own knowledge *. 
 Egypt, on the contrary, muft have exhibited more 
 than eighty of the largeft fize. The operation of 
 erecting them was not very difficult among people, 
 who, from having tranfported many fuch maiTes, had 
 acquired an experience, which Fontana wanted, 
 when he employed fix hundred men, and one hun- 
 dred and forty horfes, upon that of the Vatican. 
 The power of the cables and capftans being known, 
 it is calculated, that this force would have been fuf- 
 ficient to raife ten thoufand pound weight more than 
 was neceflary on that occafionf. As the Egyptians 
 did not place their obclifks on fuch elevated pedeftals 
 as thofe fo improperly employed at Rome, they 
 might, with four hundred men and eighty horfes,. 
 have managed any monument of that kind, evert 
 with capftans alone. The flory, told by fome au- 
 thors, concerning one of the Pharaohs, who, they 
 fay, tied his fon to the top of one of thefe Hones to 
 make the workmen more cautious, is too notorioufly 
 abfurd to require refutation. By examining atten- 
 tively the form and pofition of the obeliiks of Egypt,, 
 it is eafy to perceive, that they could never be in- 
 tended as gnomons, according to the opinion fo pre- 
 
 * Jackfon, in his Chronological Antiquities, proves that no fuck 
 obelifk ever exifled at Babylon, 
 t" Epiftola de Obelifco Horns. 
 
 1 valent
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 51 
 
 valent in Europe. Two were placed at the entrance 
 of the temples ; and when thofe buildings could be 
 approached by different ways, the number of fuch 
 fpires was augmented in proportion. This is evi- 
 dent at the prefent day, in the ruins of the temple 
 of Phylse ; -in that of Thebes ; and at the fuppofed 
 tomb of Ofymandyas ; a word evidently compofed of 
 Mendes and OJiris. 
 
 Thus we find, that nothing like gnomons was the 
 object ; other wife the abfurdity is evident of placing 
 them fo near each other, that their fhadows mud fre- 
 quently be confounded together. Befides, the upper 
 part, called the pyramidiwn, could not give any pre- 
 cife indication without the addition of a globe, like 
 that employed at Rome under Auguftus and Con- 
 flantius. Nothing of the kind however is mentioned 
 by any ancient author, as having been practifed by 
 the Egyptians ; and we fee, by the paintings taken 
 from the ruins of Herculanewn, and ilill better by 
 the Paleftrina Mofaic, that the obelifks are inva- 
 riably reprefented without a globe, or any place to 
 infert a ftyle, or bar. When a Roman, named Maxi- 
 mus, was prefect of Egypt, he cut away the point, in 
 order to place a globe on the obelilk of Alexandria ; 
 and this muft have appeared to the Egyptians as facri- 
 lege. Thus the members of the Academy of Infcrip* 
 tions at Paris were very ill informed, when they made 
 their report to the Academy of Sciences, relative to 
 the antiquity of fupporting globes with obelifks * : 
 for fuch was never the practice of the Egyptians. 
 
 * Memoirs of the Academy of lofcriptions, vol. iii. 
 
 E 2 Apion,
 
 5 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 Apion, the grammarian, indeed pretends, tnat? 
 Mofes placed concave hemifpheres on pillars, inflead 
 of obelifks ; but he fpeaks like a perfon altogether 
 ignorant of the matter; and Jofephus who was a 
 (till worfe reafoner, and more ignorant in natural 
 philofophy, refutes him by the mod pitiful argu- 
 ments. Vitruvius, Cleomedes, Macrobius, and Mar- 
 tianus Capella, defcribe the folar time-keepers, ufed in 
 Egypt, by which Eratoflhenes meafured, or verified 
 the meafare of the earth *. According to them, 
 they were really concave hemifpheres, with a ftyle 
 raifed perpendicularly in the middle ; but it is truly 
 ridiculous to judify Apion, by fuppofmg that they 
 could be placed on the top of obelifks, or high pil- 
 lars, where no perfon, without the aid ef a ladder, 
 could obferve the declination of the fhadow. Al- 
 though the priefts frequently had recourfe to thefe 
 inflruments, they efteemed ftill more their hydro- 
 fcopes or water- clocks, becaufe they could employ 
 them during the night in aftronomical obfervations. 
 Yet it is difficult to believe Orus Apollo, when he 
 fays that they emptied themfelves precifely in an 
 equinoctial day f . 
 
 We have never had an opportunity of feeing ei- 
 ther the fand-glafies, or clepfydras, made in China ; 
 but yet we know that they do not reprefent a monkey 
 difcharging urine. The priefts of Egypt thought 
 proper to give that whimfical form to their water- 
 
 * Vitruv. Architect, lib. Jx. Cleomed. de Meteorology Ma- 
 c-rob, in Som. Scip. lib. i. Mart. Capell. dc Geometria. 
 t Hieroglyph, lib. J. 
 
 clocks ;
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. j.j 
 
 clocks ; which, befides, were graduated and divided 
 in another manner than thofe of China. Twelve 
 Egyptian hours are only equal to fix with the Chi- 
 Iiefe * ; and this is of more confequence than we are 
 led to believe at firfl view ; for in fact it is not lefs 
 effential than the different modes of dividing the 
 figns of the zodiac in thefe two countries, where no 
 refemblarice can be found beyond what might well 
 have proceeded from chance. 
 
 This is not the proper place to examine, what 
 ihould reafonably be thought of the infcriptions on 
 the obelifks. Father Kircher has made every effort 
 to perfuade us, that they contain neither hiftorical 
 facts, nor narratives of any kind ; but he did not 
 know that thefe characters are totally unconnected with 
 what properly conflitutes an obelifk. No lefs than 
 three of the largeft fize are known to have been 
 pure, that is to fay without any appearance of en- 
 graving on the four faces, although they were cer- 
 tainly placed during many ages at the entrance of the 
 temple of the Sun. Yet we cannot accufe the 
 priefts and fculptors of ignorance in hieroglyphics, 
 as Hardouin ridiculoufly infmuates, when fpeaking 
 of one of thofe dumb fpires, erected by Necta- 
 nebus f . 
 
 Abenephi, the Arab, and many others, who are 
 not his countrymen, have confounded the obelifks 
 with the pretended hermetic columns. To prevent 
 further confufion, it is neceflary that we mould intro- 
 
 * Bayer.de Horis Sinicis. - Ulug Beig de Epochis celebr. 
 f Plin. lib. xxxvi. cap- 14. 
 
 duce
 
 54 i PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 duce accurate ideas and fixed terms in what relates to 
 thefe two kinds of monuments, fo totally uncon- 
 nected *. 
 
 Manetho, in compofing his hiftory of Egypt, con- 
 fulted the Stela of Hermes^ preferved in the fyringes, 
 or fubterraneous paflages f ; but we do not find that 
 he had ever recourfe to the infcriptions on the obe- 
 lifks. The word Ste/a, or Hermetic Column, mufl 
 not however be taken in a literal fenfe ; for that 
 kind of monument was at beft only a cippus, and 
 more frequently a mere tablet of flone. The Ara- 
 bian alchymifls were well informed of this, when 
 they called the flat emerald, mentioned in the pre- 
 ceding fection, the fmaragdine table, as others have, 
 been called the tables of the decalogue. 
 
 Ancient writers in general confirm what Manetho 
 fays of the hermetic Stela being preferved in the 
 mod fecret part of the temples, fuch as the adytum, 
 and in the cells where the priefls retired to fludy J. 
 By this we find how different they mufl have been 
 from the obelifks, which were expofed to public view 
 at the entrance of the principal edifices. On monu- 
 ments, fo generally feen, and fo fignificant from their 
 figure, engraved characters were not effential, but 
 the infcriptions alone conflituted the hermetic 
 Stela. 
 
 Mr. Jablonfki, whofe authority mufl ever have 
 great weight in all fuch matters, has proved by in- 
 
 * Abenephi, apud Kirch, in Obelifco Pamphilio. 
 f Syncel. in Chron. J Apotelefmat. lib. v. 
 
 vincible
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 55 
 
 vincible arguments, that the Thoth, Mercurius Trif- 
 meglftusi and Hermes of the Egyptians, is a mere my- 
 thological fpe&re, and not any peribn who really 
 ever exifted *. Yet the diftinftion he makes, be- 
 tween the ancient and modern Hermes, is not alto- 
 gether perfect. The time of the iirfl Hermes mould 
 be. confidered, properly fpeaking, to continue as long 
 as the priefts confined themfelves to engraving their 
 hieroglyphics on iione ; and the era of the fecond 
 began when they employed books of papyrus ; be- 
 caufe with them even to touch parchment was un- 
 lawful. As thofe men always fpoke ailegorically, 
 they have led our modern chronologiils into innu- 
 merable errors. It is with a fmile mixed with com- 
 pailion that we read the controversies of thefe pre- 
 tended calculators, concerning the real period when 
 Hermes lived : they might as well difpute about the 
 reign of king Oberon. 
 
 Pliny may be confidered as under a miflake, when 
 he pretends that the obeliik feen in Heliopolis, at 
 more than one hundred and fixty leagues from the 
 place where it was hewn, mud be the moft ancient. 
 He fell into this error, becaufe the Greeks fometimes 
 employed the word Heiiopolis to denote the town of 
 Thebes ; where, apparently, the firfl obelifks had 
 been placed before the temple of Jupiter Ammon, to 
 adorn the capital of Egypt. Some modern geogra- 
 phers have followed very uncertain indications, in 
 fixing the extent of that town ; and Mr. D'Anville, 
 who fuppofed its circuit to have been nine leagues, 
 
 * Pantheon ./Egypt, lib. v. 
 
 * 4 has
 
 5 6 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 has exceeded all bounds of probability. The 
 Jefuits, who are known to have exaggerated greatly 
 every thing belonging to China, give Pekin fix 
 leagues in circumference j and it would be reduced 
 to two, if the houfes were of three ftories, inftead of 
 being wretched ground-floors, which require more 
 furface than the regular buildings of Europe. Yet 
 four hours are fufficient for riding conveniently on 
 horfe-back round this kind of Chinefe camp, which 
 a fpark of fire may reduce in one day to afhes, with- 
 out leaving even a ruin ; while Bufcowich fufpects, 
 that, after the deftru&ion of Conftantinople, fome 
 fragments at leaft might- remain of its mofques and 
 befefteins *. 
 
 The houfes of Thebes, according to Diodorus, 
 were of four or five flories ; and, in that cafe, a cir- 
 cumference of nine leagues would fuppofe a greater 
 heap of houfes than ever was feen upon earth, with- 
 out even excepting Babylon, where apparently many 
 dwellings had but one floor. By making a diftin&ion 
 between the town of Thebes, and the villages feat- 
 tered along the banks of the Nile, every thing mar- 
 vellous will difappear. Dydimus, who muft have had 
 fome knowledge of an actual furvey of that place, 
 calculates the whole furface at only three thoufand 
 feveri hundred arourse ; and thus we find a town 
 much lefs than Paris. The conftant contradictions 
 and variations of the ancients, concerning Thebes, 
 prove the uncertainty of " its limits ; but, pro- 
 
 * Journal of Travels from Conftantinople to Poland. 
 
 perly
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 57 
 
 perly fpeaking, the buildings on the Libyan fide did 
 not belong to that city *. 
 
 Memphis was computed to be three leagues in cir- 
 cumference. This eftimate mud have included the 
 great ponds, now entirely rilled up, the park, or 
 accafia, fycamore, and palm-trees planted in cluflers, 
 and all the royal manfion of the Pharaohs. It is 
 known that the palace extended from one extremity 
 of the town to the other ; becaufe moft probably the 
 feraglio, chapels, ftables, and other out-houfes, ad- 
 joined the principal dwelling. Memphis, however, 
 augmented only in proportion as Thebes declined. 
 The ftate of population in Egypt did not allow 
 thefe two cities to flourifh at the fame time ; and 
 when Mr. Origny afierts, that twenty thoufand towns 
 would not have injured the cultivated lands of that 
 country -}-, we can only fay, that this, refembles his 
 other dreams concerning the iile of Elephantis. Its 
 extent, according to him, was prodigious ; although, 
 from what we have already obferved, the reader muft 
 perceive that it formed merely a point in the Nile. 
 
 Memphis in turn ceded to the increafmg grandeur 
 of Ptolemais and Alexandria. Another revolution 
 of the fame kind took place, on the building of 
 
 * No two ancient authors agree with regard to the fize of 
 Thebes. The aflertions of Dydimus cannot be reconciled either 
 with what Cato quotes from Stephen of Byzantium, or with the 
 accounts of Diodorus, Strabo, or Euftathius. They are all in con- 
 tradi&ion to each other. The extent of Sl-varis, fituated in 
 lower Egypt, mufl likewife have been greatly exaggerated. 
 t Egypte ancienne, toiUt i. 
 
 Cairo j
 
 s t PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 Cairo ; and modern travellers have been as much de- 
 ceived in the fiae of that town, as of Thebes. We 
 may be allured, that its circuit never amounted to 
 three French leagues, or eight Englifh miles, as fome 
 have falfely aflerted. 
 
 If Diodorus has given too much elevation to the 
 houfes of ancient Egypt, they have been no lefs mif- 
 reprefented by Mr. Pococke, who pretends that they 
 were nothing more than tents ; and according to this 
 idea, an Egyptian town confided of an encampment 
 round a temple. But he is the only perfon, who ever 
 accufed the Egyptians of that manner of life, which 
 they held in fuch averfion, that they would not per- 
 mit even the Jews to live in tents. The Turks ought 
 in good policy to have acted in the fame manner, with 
 regard to the Bedouin Arabs, who, by continuing to 
 encamp, bring ruin on the different provinces ; and 
 the maxim of preventing whole families from leading 
 a wandering life, fhould be ftrictly obferved in every 
 country. 
 
 Having proceeded, as we propofed, to place limits to 
 the too great extent of Thebes, it is equally neceflary 
 to undeceive ourfelves with regard to the temples of 
 ancient Egypt. They were certainly much lefs nu- 
 merous than many authors believed, before the dif- 
 ferent ruins had been well afcertained. It is gene- 
 rally underftood, that the trunk of the palm-tree was 
 the model for the columns of all thefe edifices : but, 
 in that cafe, they would have preferved a general re-> 
 femblance ; and, on the contrary, nothing could be 
 more varied. The fame thing is remarkable in their 
 
 chapiters ;
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 59 
 
 chapiters : thofe in the form of a bell reverfed have 
 been adopted in the Corinthian order ; and the body 
 of that chapiter is flill called campana. Thus the ad- 
 venture of the bafket, found by Callimachus, fup- 
 portedby leaves of acanthus, is nothing more than a 
 childifh fable, invented by the Greeks, who wifhed 
 to conceal their having borrowed any thing from the 
 Egyptians, while the contrary is manifeftly evident. 
 They pretended likewife that the triglyphs of the 
 Doric order reprefehted the ends of the beams reding 
 on the architrave. But they were invented by the 
 Egyptian architects, or fculptors, who never em- 
 ployed wood ; and the Greeks have only added the 
 gittta, which do not feem very neceffary. It is re- 
 markable, that among all the ruins of Egypt, no co- 
 lumns have been found with vertebras alternately 
 of black and white marble. Yet the Egyptians cer- 
 tainly efteemed greatly fuch particolored buildings, 
 although their effect mud be truly difagreeable. But 
 we fliould always remember, that the eyes of the in* 
 habitants of the Eafl are very different from ours. 
 
 Only one inftance prefents itfelf, where the trunk 
 of the palm-tree might really have been ufed as a 
 model for columns. This was to fatisfy the tafte of 
 Pharaoh Amafis^ who caufed many wonderful works 
 to be conflructed in the town of Sals only a few years 
 before the fall of the Egyptian monarchy. Hence 
 v/e may perceive, that the paffion for building never 
 diminimed in that country, where the heat of the cli- 
 mate, and the fertility of the foil, naturally inclined 
 mankind to idlenefs. Ariflotle juilly fufpected that 
 
 the
 
 fc> PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 the priefls did not wifli the people to remain inac- 
 tive *. Independently however of all political mo- 
 tives, they feeni to have been perfuaded, that exercife 
 was neceflary for the prefervation of health among 
 men fubject to the leprofy ; and frequent feftivals were 
 inftituted to prevent their toils from becoming infup- 
 portable. In a climate fo ardent as that of Egypt* 
 this management was very proper ; although not at 
 all calculated for colder regions, where the bodily 
 forces are much lefs exhaufted in an equal fpace of 
 time. If all the colleges of Egypt really teftified 
 their difcontent againft king Cheops, it was not furely 
 from any difguft at the pyramid he creeled, but be- 
 caufe he forced the people to work on holidays. Yet 
 the whole recital of that affair, given by Herodotus, 
 ieems to be a pure fiction, contradictory of all ideas 
 we have received concerning the government of 
 Egypt, which was much lefs defpotic than modern 
 authors pretend. It is ridiculous to hear them al- 
 Jedging, that, in a free country like England, no per- 
 fon would ever think of rearing pyramids ; while we 
 know, that the cultivation of the earth requires nine 
 times more labor there than inEgypt. If exadl: lifts could 
 be procured of all the Britifli fubjects, who periih at 
 fea either by fhipwrecks or other accidents, we mould 
 find that navigation deftroys more men in one year, 
 than perifhed in many centuries by erecting the py- 
 ramids. As agriculture did not afford fufficient em- 
 ployment for the Egyptians, who had neither a ma- 
 rine, nor any exterior commerce, it was neceifary to 
 
 * Ariftot. de Republic, lib. v, 
 
 direft
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE". &f 
 
 direct them to other purfuits. By reflecting on the 
 flourifhing ftate of their country under the Pharaohs, 
 and the miferable fituation into which it was reduced 
 by the Chriflian emperors, and afterwards by the 
 Turks, we cannot refrain from being perfuaded, that 
 the ancient government muil have been better than 
 fome men of trifling genius pretend. 
 
 One event has been greatly exaggerated ; and even 
 allowing the whole to be literally true, we can only con- 
 fider it as an accident altogether unforefeen. Pharaoh 
 Necho, it is faid, in caufing a communication tobeopen- 
 ed between the Nile and the Arabic gulph, occafioned 
 the death of one hundred and twenty thoufand men. 
 But how can it appear probable, that fo many mould 
 perim on this occafion, when Ptolemy Philadelphus 
 completed a canal of the fame kind in another place, 
 without the lofs of a fingle life ? 
 
 Such popular reports may be accounted for in the 
 following manner. The priefts of Egypt difapproved 
 highly of the project of joining the Nile with the Red 
 Sea. They even publifhed an oracle, to prevent 
 Pharaoh Necho from his enterprife ; becaufe their 
 exact local knowledge enabled them to forefee, that 
 fuch attempts would be ufelefs. The event juflified 
 their opinion, when Ptolemy afterwards endeavoured 
 in vain to eftablifh a harbour for the commerce of 
 India, and the coaft of Africa, in the place where 
 his canal entered the Arabic gulph. It became necef- 
 fary to form a port much more to the fouth ; and 
 thus the labor of cutting acrofs the ifthmus of Suez 
 was entirely loft, Strabo certainly erred greatly, by 
 
 affirming
 
 6* PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 affirming that large veflels, heavily laden, had navi- 
 gated this cut ; for we know that Cleopatra, at si 
 crifis when her life and empire were at flake, could 
 not pafs there, even with light galleys. The Turks 
 were made to believe, in our own days, that if they 
 wifhed to obtain immenfe riches, nothing more was 
 neceffary than to open the ancient communication, 
 between the Nile and the harbour of Suez : but the 
 perfon, fent to examine the matter, diffuaded the 
 fultan from this abfurd project. If a prince like 
 Ptolemy, who already poffeffed one branch of the 
 commerce of India, could not reap any advantage 
 from this canal, what indeed might be expected by 
 the Turks ? They have there only twelve or thirteen 
 veflels, and thefe never leave the Arabic gulph, but 
 are employed in tranfporting certain productions of 
 India to Giddah, whence Europeans bring annually 
 to the amount of fix or feven hundred thoufand 
 pounds flerling. Confidering the lofles of the Turks 
 by fhipVvTecks in returning from Giddah to Suez, it 
 is evident, that they would avoid much rifk by dif- 
 charging their cargoes at Berenice, and following the 
 road by land, as was practifed under the Ptolemies. 
 Two tribes of robbers, or Bedouin Arabs, called 
 Eenl-WajJel and Arabde, might indeed be tempted to 
 -lay the caravans under contribution ; and as the 
 Turks govern fo badly the countries fubjefted to their 
 fway, it is but juft that they mould experience thofe 
 wrongs which they do to others. 
 
 To form an exact idea of the formation of the lake 
 Moeris, it will be necefTary to obferve the map at the 
 
 beginning
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 63 
 
 beginning of this volume, where it is placed to the 
 north of the town of Crocodiles, or what is now 
 called the province of Feium. Father Sicard erred 
 egregioufly in placing the lake too far to the fouth r 
 and converting it into a long canal parallel to the 
 bed of the Nile. Mr. D'Anville has unaccountably 
 adopted the fame arrangement, although in oppofition 
 to fuch geographers as Strabo and Ptolemy, as well 
 as hiftorians like Herodotus and Diodorus. The lafl 
 of thefe writers fays pofitively, that the Mceris was 
 little diilant from the town of Crocodiles * ; and this 
 paflage, which contributes to determine its real pofi- 
 tion, muft have efcaped the attention of Mr. D'An- 
 ville f . Befides, the inhabitants of the country af- 
 fured Herodotus, that this lake communicated with 
 the Syrtis of Africa by a fubterraneous conduit, di- 
 rected towards the weft, and pailing behind the moun- 
 tains of Memphis. No other body of water anfwers 
 this defcription, except that now feen to the north of 
 the province of Feium ; and as Ptolemy and Strabo 
 fpeak with certainty, we may be affured, that this is 
 the real Mceris. Thus D'Anville's Egypt has one 
 falfe indication, and the error is copied in his great 
 
 * Bibliot. lib. ii. 
 
 f This geographer -willies to prove^ in his Memoirs on tfnciettt 
 and Modern Egypt, that Herodotus and Diodorus, in fpeaking of 
 the lake Marls, have taken the meafure of the furface for the cir- 
 cumference. An error of this kind would be inexcufable in a child 
 of ten years old. The Greeks could never be accufed of fuch im- 
 becility ; but they were always notorious for their exaggera- 
 tions. 
 
 map,
 
 4* PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATION'S 
 
 map, becaufe he confided too much in the memoir^ 
 of Father Sicard, who was prevented by an untimely 
 death from perilling ancient authors with fufficient at- 
 tention. In confequence of fuch improper combina- 
 tions, D'Anville's map points out two labyrinths, al- 
 though one only was known to the ancients ; and 
 Egypt was certainly not the place to multiply objects 
 without neceffity. 
 
 At this day, the lake Mceris is thirty miles in 
 length, and eight in breadth. That fpace is fuffici- 
 ently extenfive to admit of various conjectures front 
 thofe who meafure it with the eye only at different 
 points of view. From eaft to weft, it appears larger 1 
 than reality ; and proportionably fmaller, when feen 
 from north to fouth. As no naturalift has had an op- 
 portunity of examining it, we are at a lofs to deter- 
 mine whether it mould be confidered as formed by 
 the water of the Nile, which enters there, or, ac- 
 cording to Strabo, as merely a veftige of the Medi* 
 terranean* Perhaps indeed the Egyptians may have 
 labored to drain the province of Feium, or the 
 Arfenoite Nome, which appears to have been an- 
 ciently a marfh, as well as the Delta. Having fuc* 
 ceeded in that undertaking, they conducted thither 
 the frefli water, by cutting apparently feven mouths, 
 by which a part of the Nile was difcharged into the 
 lake Mceris, in the fame manner as into the fea *. 
 
 * Of feven mouths which belonged to the canal of communica- 
 tion between the Nile and the lake Marls, fix can now be di- 
 ftin&ly obferved when the river overflows and the dykes are 
 opened. 
 
 After
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 6$ 
 
 After thiefe explanations, we fee why the Egyptians 
 could boaft that this lake was produced by their in- 
 duftry. Confidering the utility of the work> we will-* 
 ingly pardon their fuperflition, in fuppofing a con- 
 nexion between the mouths of their canal and the 
 number of the planets. We have no information 
 whatever concerning the fubterraneous communica- 
 tion of the lake Mceris with the Syrtis mentioned by 
 Herodotus. As that Greek did not underfland the 
 Egyptian language, he was perhaps milled by the in- 
 terpreters, and poffibly alluded to what is called the 
 River without Water, which fome travellers are per- 
 fuaded has never been produced by human labor. But 
 the error of Father Sicard was occafioned by the 
 mark of fome great canal, or an ancient bed of the 
 Nile, called Bathen in the French maps, and in the 
 German Gara-. 
 
 The Egyptians were infinitely more expert at con* 
 ducting water, or digging ditches, than erecting any 
 fuperb and regular buildings. The great temple of 
 Heliopolis, where neither labor nor expence was 
 fpared, could only be confidered, fays Strabo, as a 
 barbarous fabric, deftitute of tafte and elegance. It 
 is with architecture as with painting, fculpture, and 
 mufic. The people of the Eaft could never bring 
 that art to any great degree of perfection ; becaufe 
 their fancy was too unruly to be governed by fixed 
 principles. 
 
 Count Caylus has aflerted, that the architects of 
 
 Egypt were ignorant of the method of conftructing 
 
 vaults ; and Mr. Goguet wifhed to demonftrate this 
 
 VOL. n F beyond
 
 6 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 beyond difpute, by engraving defigns for the purpofe? 
 in his book on the Origin of the Sciences and Arts* 
 Cornelius de Bruyn, however, having been enabled 
 by means of flambeaux to obtain a drawing of an 
 obfcure gallery in the great pyramid, gives his opi- 
 nion, that it was really a vault *. Pliny fays the 
 fame of the inferior apartments of the labyrinth. 
 Thevenot found likewife fome caves, intended for 
 mummies, formed in that manner ; and finally, Po- 
 cocke discovered an Egyptian arch in the province of 
 Feium. Thus Mr. Goguet and Count Caylus do not 
 appear to have examined thefe matters with fufficient 
 attention. Indeed the difficulty of finding wood for 
 fcaffolding and frame-work, might have prevented 
 the Egyptians from vaulting the great temples ; or 
 perhaps that mode of building was not confidered by 
 them as fufficiently folid, according to their ideas of 
 indeflructibility. Every perfon knows the extreme 
 fcarcity of timber in that country ; and to lay flat 
 {tones on the tops of pillars required few fcaffolds : 
 but whole forefls would have been neceffary to raife 
 a vault for the prodigious temple of Thebes. 
 
 The Egyptians were the firft people who conceived 
 the idea, that a whole country might be fortified like 
 a citadel ; and the great rampart of Egypt muft be 
 confidered as much more ancient than that of Media. 
 Sefoftris, who has been fo improperly confidered as 
 a conqueror, endeavoured to put his own kingdom 
 
 * Reizen door Uem 4Jia. This traveller gives the name of 
 Ge-welf to the top of the gallery, and he would never have ufed 
 that term without intending it to exprefs an arch. 
 
 into
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. </ 
 
 into a ftate of defence, by erecting a wall in an ob- 
 lique line from, the town of the Sun, fituated with- 
 out the Delta, to Pelufium. This diftance amounted 
 to fifteen hundred fladia of the fmalleft meafure, or 
 about eighty Englifh miles ; and the pretended hero 
 was chiefly defirous of preventing the fhepherds of 
 Arabia from invading Egypt, where their excefles 
 were intolerable* What mufl be confidered as very 
 remarkable is, that the Bedouin Arabs, who encamp 
 at this day fo infolently on the ruins of Alexandria, 
 have preferved the tradition of this great wall, fo in- 
 judicioufly conftructed. It ended, as we have faid, 
 at Pel'ufium * j and when once an enemy got pofief- 
 fion of that town, all the works of Sefoftris were 
 ufelefs ; becaufe no obftacle afterwards remained in 
 afcending the Nile, as we find by the fucceffes of 
 Cambyfes, and afterwards of Alexander. 
 
 This great rampart of Egypt has totally vanimed, 
 no perfon knows in what manner. We have reafon 
 however to believe, that it was levelled during the 
 conquefl of the Perfians ; for nothing of the kind 
 exifted in the reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon, when 
 the Egyptians, fupported by the auxiliary troops of 
 Lacedsemon and Athens, made a laft, but ineffeclual 
 effort to break their chains. Pharaoh Nedtanebus 
 
 * Diodor. Bibl. lib. i. Egypt might have been more eafily 
 inclofed by building a wall from Pelufium to the town of 
 Heroes. It appeared to me at firft that the text of Diodorus was 
 incorreft, and that 'H^awyiroXis mould be read inftead of 'HXwuVoXtf. 
 Some confederations afterwards prevented me from adberingto 
 that opinion.
 
 68 
 
 then fortified anew the \vhole Pelufian branch of the 
 Nile; and Chabrias, the Greek, who commanded 
 under him, clofed a fecond time the avenues of Pe- 
 lufium by a bulwark called Char ax Chabria *. But 
 thefe works have difappeared, as well as thofe of 
 Sefoftris ; and we only find them in hiftory, as laid 
 down in the map annexed to this volume. 
 
 Mr. Maillet pretends, that fome traces are feen of 
 another wall, upwards of twenty-four feet thick, con- 
 ftruded by the Egyptians in the Heptanomis j. This 
 however is not mentioned by ancient writers ; and it 
 muft be confidered as rather fufpicious ; unlefs per- 
 haps fome fuch method was adopted to protect the 
 plain now called Araba. That diftrict might in rea- 
 lity have had cultivated lands, near dlabqftrinopolis, 
 where a defile between two mountains required per- 
 haps to be defended. 
 
 This mode of inclofing a country with walls has 
 been confidered as the ftrongeit proof of the refem- 
 blance between the Egyptians and Chinefe. It will 
 therefore be necelfary to mow, that the fame idea oc - 
 curred to all ancient polifhed nations, whenever they 
 had for neighbours the Nomades, who never cultivate 
 the earth, and are the fcourge of civilized focieties. 
 Pafloral life has been confidered by hiflorians, who 
 were not philofophers, as "the real ftate of innocence j 
 but it is, in fad, fuch an incitement to rapine, that 
 the terms Nomades and robbers are almofl fynoni- 
 mous. 
 
 * Cor. Nepos in Vit. Chabrise. Strabo, Geograph. 
 f Defcription of Egypt. 
 
 One
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE^ 6g 
 
 One great wall, which, on considering the pofltion 
 alone, feems to have been judicious enough, was 
 erected in the valley between the Libanus and Anti- 
 Libanus, to reftrain the Scenite Arabs. Although 
 amazingly ftrong, this work was already fo com- 
 pletely deftroyed in the days of Pliny, that he fpeaks 
 of it as a monument no longer to be feen ; but we 
 find it defcribed particularly by Diodorus Siculus *. 
 
 The Hebrews likewife, however flrange it may ap- 
 pear, undertook to build a wall of an hundred and 
 fifty ftadia, from the town of Joppa to Antipatris f. 
 This rampart, like all the reft, was foon overturned ; 
 and the Jews, who pretended to defend it againft An- 
 tiochus, fuffered themfelves to be defeated in a moll 
 fhameful manner. 
 
 On the way from Joppa, along the coaft of the 
 Mediterranean, we find the great wall, which fur- 
 rounded all the province of Pamphylia, and a part 
 of Pifidia. Towards the end of the feventeenth cen- 
 tury, fome travellers, on their journey from Anthalia 
 to Smyrna, difcovered the wrecks of this vaft bul- 
 xvark J, concerning which authors are fo filent, that 
 we neither know when nor by whom it was erected. 
 Yet no doubt remains but the object was to protect 
 Pamphylia againft the Ifaurians, who were ever averfe 
 to good order. Their mountains were naturally arid j 
 and inftead of endeavouring to improve the foil, they 
 only thought of making incurfions wherever any 
 
 * Plin. lib. v. Diodorus, lib. xiv. 
 f- Jofephus, Ant. Judaic, lib. xiii. 
 J Spon, Mifcell. erudit. Antiquit. fe&. vi. 
 
 F 3 hope
 
 ?9 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 hope could be entertained of pillage. They were 
 called the chief of robbers, in preference to the Jews 
 and Arabs ; and in this profeffion they difcovered al- 
 moft as much experrnefs as the Algerines in piracy. 
 The Romans chaftifed them repeatedly ; but they be- 
 came again formidable under Valens, and his fuc- 
 ceffors j and we may therefore, without further de- 
 tails, confider this rampart as a work of the lower 
 empire. 
 
 Faffing thence into the centre of Afia, we find the 
 great wall of Media, extending nearly from the 
 Tigris to the Euphrates. Xenophon, the only perfon 
 who fpeaks of it from his own knowledge, fixes the 
 length at twenty parafangse *. This does not agree 
 with what we learn from Lucius Ampelius f, who is 
 unpardonable in confidering it as one of the wonders 
 of the world. The height indeed was an hundred 
 Grecian feet, and the breadth at lead twenty ; but 
 yet it had no title to be ranked among the greatefl of 
 all human productions. As the (tones were cemented 
 with bitumen, it was eafy for enemies, by means of 
 burning cakes of the fame fubftance, to calcinate the 
 places where they wiflied to open a paflage. Arta- 
 xerxes, to prevent fuch accidents, caufed large 
 ditches to be dug before it, and filled with the water 
 
 * Retreat of the Ten Thoufand. 
 
 J- De Mirabilibus, cap. ix. The thirty Roman miles given 
 by Ampelius to the wall of Media make only ten parafangx. His 
 text mould therefore be changed tojixty miles, which are within 
 thirty fathoms of the twenty parafangse mentioned by Xeno. 
 phon. 
 
 of
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 71 
 
 of the Tigris. Thus, to protect one very feeble work, 
 he undertook another equally inefficacious. 
 
 Thefe prodigious fortifications, now no longer vi- 
 fible, were intended to protedt Babylon, and a part 
 of fouthern Babylonia, againft the inhabitants of the 
 confines of Armenia and Mefopotamia. Thefe could 
 not however have been very numerous ; for their 
 mountains were no lefs flerile than thofe of Ifauria ; 
 and perhaps the fame race ftill exifts, under the 
 name of Satchlis 9 towards the Sengar.. As the 
 Greeks and Romans had the folly of attributing to 
 Semiramis every thing of that kind beyond the Eu- 
 phrates, they did not fail to give her credit likewife 
 for the great wall of Media. Suppofmg this to be 
 fact, it would of courfe follow, that the Afiyrians, 
 who then trembled before a fmall nation of favages, 
 were not in a ftate to alarm all Afia with their nume- 
 rous armies. But let it be remembered, that thofe, 
 who wrote this hiflory of Semiramis and the Affy- 
 rians, were not philofophers. 
 
 Previous to arriving at the Van-ly of China, two 
 walls were formerly feen to the weft of the Cafpian 
 fea : they formed part of a chain furrounding almoft 
 the whole of that extenfive portion of the globe, 
 called by us Tartary, but known to the ancients by 
 the name of Scythia. Although both thefe terms are 
 very improper, it is fcarcely poilible to exprefs better 
 a multitude of nations, almoft without exception 
 Nomades and wandering.' 
 
 Amidft the fandy Hircanian deferts, the canton of 
 Margiania enjoys all the favors of nature. Alex.- 
 
 F 4 and&r
 
 yi PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 ander was fo much charmed \vith the beauty of this 
 delightful i'pot, that he refolved to found a city in its 
 vicinity; and although death prevented hiai from 
 executing his project, it was afterwards refumed by 
 Antiochus, fon of Seleucus Nicator. Experience, 
 however, foon proved the neceffity of protecting in 
 fome way or other the cultivated lands from the ra- 
 vages of the Scythians ; and he therefore furrounded 
 the whole diftrict with a wall fifteen hundred fladia in 
 length. As that meafurement cannot be calculated at 
 lefs than one hundred and twenty miles, fo extenfive 
 an undertaking is entitled to ibme attention in our pre- 
 fent refearches *. But when we add, that the town, 
 founded by Antiochus, was afterwards repeatedly pil- 
 laged, and finally committed to the flames by the 
 Tartars, it is almoft needlefs to obferve, that this bul- 
 wark refembled all the others by its total inefficacy. 
 
 Under the forty-fecond degree of north latitude, 
 the great wall of llak extended from Shabaleg to the 
 extremity of the valley of Al/hafl}, a diftance of more 
 than twenty leagues. Little local knowledge is ne- 
 ceffary to conceive that it was intended to prevent 
 the robbers of Turkeftan from annoying the town of 
 Toncat and its neighbourhood, which, in the four- 
 teenth century, was cultivated like a garden, and in- 
 terfected by a thoufand canals. Nature, fays Abul- 
 feda, is no-where more beautiful than in this charm- 
 ing fpot, covered with flowers and fruits f . But it 
 
 * Strabo, Geograph. lib. xi. 
 
 f Locorum omnium qua: Deus creavit, am<eni/imus, fays the tranfla- 
 tor of Abulfcda, Defcript. Choraf. & Mawaralnahras. 
 
 mud
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 73 
 
 mufl be owing to the vifits of the Tartars that the vi- 
 cinity of that town is now defert. Some other con- 
 fiderable cities of Mawar-al-nahr, fuch as Samarcand 
 and Bochara, had likewife furrounded the whole of 
 their cultivated territories by vaft walls, to a great ex- 
 tent* Agriculture was effaced wherever the paftorai 
 hordes appeared. They made a practice of pillaging 
 and deflroying, to enforce their maxim, that poflef- 
 fion cannot render lands a property. The fall of the 
 empire of Tamerlane, who was very partial to Sa- 
 marcand, occafioned the deftrudion of all the beau- 
 tiful provinces fituated beyond the Oxus, or Gihon. 
 Nothing now prevents the Nomades from traverfmg 
 them with their flocks ; and the whole region con- 
 tains only miferable wretches, who exifl by mutual 
 robberies. It is unaccountable that the Chinefe em- 
 peror, Kien-long, was not tempted to take poffeflion 
 of fo fertile a country, when, in our days, he ad- 
 vanced as far as Badakchan, and there terminated his 
 expedition. This Tartar prince was erroneoufly re* 
 prefented in Europe as having extended his conquefts 
 to the Cafpian fea ; and Mr. Boyfen has inferted the 
 fame miftake in his extracts from univerfal hiftory, al 
 though Badakchan is more than one hundred and fifty 
 leagues diflant from the Cafpian fea. 
 
 Of all the barriers oppofed .0 the irruptions of the 
 Tartars we muft allow that the Chinefe wall is the 
 greatefl, and likewife the mofl feeble, becaufe the 
 ilrength of fuch lines diminimes in proportion 
 to their extent. How could men, incapable of 
 defending a redoubt, think of forming fuch prodigi- 
 i ous
 
 74. PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 ous lines, which, if penetrated in any one place, be- 
 came totally ufelefs ? In its origin, the Van-ly of China 
 was very different from what it appeared afterwards. 
 Some independent princes raifed walls in various 
 places, to break the impetuofity of the Tartar cavalry, 
 without confidering that a triple row of palifades 
 would have proved far more effectual, as we find to 
 be the cafe along the Zeang-tong. It has been faid, 
 and believed in Europe, that the emperor Schi-chuan* 
 di undertook and executed the whole work in the 
 courfe of five years ; but this is a vulgar report, un- 
 worthy of the fmallefl degree of credit. Schi-chuan- 
 di was not yet born, when the princes of Tzin, hav- 
 ing fortified a part of the province of Chen-fi^ were 
 imitated by the princes of Tchao and Yen, who co- 
 vered in the fame manner, but more lirongly, the 
 provinces of Chan-fi and Pe-tcheli. The bad chro- 
 nology and diforder of the Chinefe books will 
 not allow us to fix the precife period when the firft 
 labors of that kind commenced there ; but it is fur>. 
 pofed to have been about three hundred years before 
 our era *, 
 
 All the princes we have mentioned were really in- 
 dependent fovereign*, who admitted no fuperiority 
 even in the emperor. As they confulted only the 
 fafety of their particular dates, no general plan was 
 purfued, and many interftices remained among the 
 
 * What Mr. de Guignes fays of the conflru&ion of the Chi- 
 nefe wall, in the Htflory of the Huns, is not exaft. He confounds 
 the emperor Schi-cbuan-di with another prince of Tzin, who reigned 
 at a much earlier period. 
 
 different
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 75 
 
 different ramparts. Yet the whole of this undertak- 
 ing, however it may be confidered, tends to prove, 
 that, under their reign, the ftate of population was 
 flourifhing, and the government far more moderate 
 than the oppreffive defpotifm of the Chinefe em- 
 perors. 
 
 The monfter Schi~chuan-di, in defiance of all laws 
 human or divine, deftroyed entirely thefe independ- 
 ent fovereigns, and he afterwards united the different 
 works they had raifed againft the Tartars. This 
 chain was uninterrupted, unlefs by groups of rocks, 
 until it reached the borders of Chan-fi. Although 
 the great wall is generally computed to be five hun- 
 dred leagues in length, yet it really does not exceed 
 three hundred and forty ; becaufe we cannot confider 
 as fuch the branch extending weflward from Chan-Jt^ 
 where earth only is employed, without either brick or 
 mortar, and the fides fo ill fecured that even cavalry 
 can effect a paffage. Thus we find how much it falls 
 ftiort of the idea generally received in Europe, where 
 no copies have hitherto been obtained of the infcrip- 
 tions faid to be found there. The mifiionaries 
 pretend, that in the province of Chan-tong likewife 
 certain characters are difcovered on the fide of mount 
 Tai-chan, which no perfon can explain : but fome- 
 thing of the fame kind, feen on the rocks of Siberia, 
 is not confidered as a monument of great anti- 
 quity *, 
 
 On 
 
 * Strahlcnberg, Obfervat. With regard to the nine mar- 
 ble drums which Father Mail/a fays he found in the college of 
 
 Pekin,
 
 7 6 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS ~ 
 
 On confidering attentively the Van-ly-czin, called 
 hyperbolically by the Chinefe the Wall of ten thou- 
 fand /ys 9 it is evident, that a more ufelefs work was 
 never reared by man fmce the beginning of the 
 \vorld. The \veflern Tartars, by turning from the 
 {trait road, and inclining towards tKjjjfortieth degree, 
 could at all times enter China, wiihoSt perceiving ei- 
 ther the terrace of Chen-fi^ or the great wall. Marco 
 Polo went with a troop of Tartars to Pekin, returned 
 into Italy, and died at Venice, totally ignorant of that 
 rampart. This made fome of the learned believe, 
 that it had not been conftructed until after the thir- 
 teenth century ; for, according to them, the filence 
 of Marco Polo was of more weight than the depofi- 
 tions of hiftory. 
 
 Experience has taught the Chinefe, that the Tar- 
 tars cannot be reftrained, but by having well-difci- 
 plined cavalry to diffipate the hordes,, when they be- 
 gin to collect in their own country. Whenever they 
 are allowed to unite and confpire, all is loft. The 
 emperor Can-hi, who was himfelf a Mandhui, knew 
 this perfectly well, and on the lead noife of war, he 
 invaded the territory of the Eleuths, and prevented 
 great battles by a few fkirmimes. We have feen 
 the emperor Kien-long imitating this conduct with 
 equal fuccefs : confequently the Van-ly-czin is allowed 
 to decay, as well as the wall of Corea ; and in a few 
 
 Pekin, we have only to obferve, that the fuperftition of the Chi- 
 nefe for the number nine might eafily have induced them to hew 
 as many pieces of Hone in that form- 
 
 centuries,
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 77 
 
 centuries, even the ruins muft difappear, or be traced 
 with difficulty. 
 
 Ruffia, expofed nearly in the fame manner to the 
 Tartars, had recourfe to fimilar means of retraining 
 them, at a time when, fo far from forefeeing its fu- 
 ture grandeur, that nation almoft defpaired of fafety. 
 By one of thofe events, almofl unexampled in hif- 
 tory, we know, that the Moguls, in the thirteenth 
 century, extended their conquefts over the greater 
 part of Afia and Africa. They fubjugated China on 
 one fide, and Ruffia on the other, while the whole 
 ancient continent refounded with the din of arms. 
 In the year one thoufand two hundred and thirty fe- 
 ven, Batbi-Sain entered Ruffia, at the head of what 
 was called the Gilded Horde, from being covered with 
 fpoils. It was compofed of chofen men, who thought 
 themfelves capable of extending in ten years their 
 empire over Europe ; but they were unacquainted 
 with Germany, where their approach did not occa- 
 fion fo much terror as the monks and pope particu- 
 larly experienced in Italy. The conduct of Bathi- 
 Sa'm was perfectly conformable to that of his coufin 
 Koublai-Kan in China : he caufed feveral towns, and 
 among the reft Cafan, to be built along the Wolga * j 
 but, inftead of depofmg the grand dukes of Ruffia, 
 they were allowed, on paying a certain tribute, to 
 preferve what was confidered an empty title, and 
 the fliadow of authority. That unpardonable fault 
 in politics ruined at length the fovereignty of the 
 
 * Verfuch einer Hiftorie von Kafan. 
 
 Tartars ;
 
 7 2 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 Tartars ; who, befides, by requiring too great corn 
 tributions in a poor country, excited fo many revolts, 
 that their reign was nothing but continual war. On 
 the other hand, they weakened themfelves by al- 
 lowing fmall bands to feparate from the great 
 horde ; for the trunk, inilead of being fortified by 
 fuch fuckers, was exhaufted. They loft fucceflively 
 the kingdom of Cafan and Ajiracan ; but they main- 
 tained themfelves in the Crimea, where they after- 
 wards acquired ftrength enough to undertake new ex- 
 curfions, and even to fet fire to the city of Mofcow. 
 This new difafter induced Fidor Janowitz, or rather 
 his tutor Boritz Goudnow, to fortify the limits of the 
 empire. Thefe works, apparently nothing more 
 at firft than a great ditch, like that feen in Africa to- 
 wards Tbene, were in time converted into a continued 
 bulwark, extending upwards of one hundred and 
 forty leagues, from Toula, in the government of 
 Mofcow, to Sibirifii, in the kingdom of Cafan. 
 Ruffia muft have been ftill equally expofed to inva- 
 lions, had not a prince at length fucceeded fo many 
 Czars. Peter the Firft, inftead of repairing the an- 
 cient rampart, defeated the Tartars, and contented 
 himfelf with hemming them in with the lines of the 
 Ukrain, which remain unimpaired to the prefent 
 day. 
 
 The great route of the barbarians, in their excur- 
 fions from what the ancients called Scythia, lay for- 
 merly between the Cafpian and the Euxine feas. 
 This fuggefted the idea of clofing up all the defiles of 
 mount Caucafus j and feveral veftiges of thefe walls 
 
 are
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE, 79 
 
 &re flill found in the diftrid of Souanis : but the 
 moil confiderable work ever ereded in that part of 
 the globe was the wall of Colchis. That province, 
 now fo defolate, received then all the merchandize 
 of India. Such great riches, heaped up byMie Phe- 
 nicians and Greeks, who had vail marts for com- 
 merce eflabliihed on the Phafis, irritated continually 
 the covetoufnefs of a barbarous people called Acbas, 
 or fome other term flill more corrupt, by the French 
 geographers. Their real name was Aiuchafzi, and 
 they are even fuppofed to fpring from the fame flock 
 with the Afesy who, under the direction of Odin, pe- 
 netrated into Sweden, according to northern fables. 
 The Awcbqfi&i however, always inhabited, and are 
 ftill found between the mouth of the Don and the 
 river Corax. They made their irruptions into the 
 centre of Colchis, by pairing along the more of the 
 Black Sea, and through the flrait fomewhat beyond 
 Petyunta. At length this paffage was clofed by a 
 wall, fuppofed to be the flrongefl ever reared by man, 
 and therefore diflinguifhed by the name % of Mums 
 validus*. But the Awchafzi, by directing their 
 courfe to the left of this place, rendered its flrength 
 ufelefs j and another wall was therefore oppofed to 
 them of more than one hundred and fixty miles in 
 length. It might indeed be confidered as one of the 
 greatefl undertakings of the kind, from being ex- 
 ceedingly well built throughout, and flrengthened at 
 equal diflances with towers. Yet Chardin could no 
 
 * D'Anville's Ancient Geography, vol. il. 
 
 longer
 
 2o PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 longer find even its ruins in one thoufand fix hundred 
 and feventy-two, becaufe they were concealed among 
 impenetrable forefts *; 
 
 Colchis exhibits one very remarkable circumftance : 
 extreme defpotifm has reduced the inhabitants to a 
 favage ftate ; and no other caufe is capable of pro- 
 ducing that effect on a people once polilhed. Even 
 the dreadful black peftilence, and all the ravages of 
 the Huns, never occafioned any thing of the kind in 
 Europe. 
 
 The iflhmus of the Taurica Cherfonefus was anci- 
 ently fortified by a ditch called Taphros in Greek ; 
 and afterwards by a wall in the place where we now 
 find the lines of the Crimea. When the Cafpian 
 barriers and thofe of Caucafus are added to the 
 others already mentioned, we find that from the 
 Boriflhenes to the very extremity of the ancient con- 
 tinent, almofl the whole of Tartary has been in- 
 clofed to the fouth by a prodigious chain of ram- 
 parts. They were evidently erected with the inten- 
 tion of retraining the inhabitants of that region, 
 who paffed them, however, as often as they thought 
 proper. Although thofe people, truly remarkable 
 on fo many accounts, have had all the treafures of 
 Europe and Afia in their pofieffion, yet they never 
 transferred any to their own country ; becaufe their 
 leaders either perifhed amidft the torrent of their con- 
 quefts, or eftablimed themfelves in the regions they 
 hadfubdued. The Romans, on the contrary, filled 
 
 * Chardin, vol. i. 
 
 the
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 81 
 
 the capital of Italy with the fpoils of the univerfe ; 
 and what occafioned their weaknefs, was long the 
 fupport of the Tartars, who are now in a more criti- 
 cal fituation than ever was experienced by any nation. 
 Thefe unfortunate people can now fcarcely breathe, 
 from being prefled together between China and Ruflia, 
 the two greatefl empires ever known on our globe. 
 But the project of depriving them entirely of their 
 horfes is impracticable ; although it is faid to have 
 been propofed by the Mandhuis to Kien-long, in or- 
 der to render the Tartars for ever incapable of what 
 they call brilliant expeditions. 
 
 Fortified provinces in ancient Europe were like* 
 wife very numerous ; and although they did not equal 
 thofe of Afia in extent, they may at leaft be com- 
 pared to them for their inutility. The Athenian co- 
 lonies, fent into the Thracian Cherfonefus, under the 
 conduct of Miltiades, clofed up the Ifthmus by a 
 wall called macron teicbos *. It reached from 
 Pa&ya to Cardia; and in thePeriplus of Scylax, the 
 diftance between the two towns is laid down at forty 
 ftadia. This work, having been partly ruined, 
 was repaired and augmented by two branches, of 
 which no traces can now be found. 
 
 After all the pains taken in ancient times to open the 
 Ifthmus of Corinth, a plan totally oppofite was at 
 length adopted, and Manuel Paleologus conftrufted 
 acrofs the neck a very thick wall, on which the fafety 
 of the Greeks was fuppofed to depend. It might 
 
 * Herodotus, lib. vi. Pliny, lib. iv. 
 
 VOL. ii, G indeed
 
 tz PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 indeed have anfwered fome purpofe, had they difco* 
 vered more bravery, and made better difpofitions 5 
 but by concealing themfelves behind this rampart, 
 they were prevented from fighting ; and afterwards 
 it impeded their flight. The Turks never made more 
 prifoners in one day than when they forced the lines 
 of the Morea ; and although the Venetians were la- 
 borious enough to rebuild this barrier, it was foon 
 after deftroyed a fecond time by the Ottomans. If 
 the interefls of the Venetians required the Ifthmus 
 of Corinth to be fliut, the Turks had at leaft equal 
 inducements to keep it open. 
 
 We have now to indicate the third macron teichos, 
 or the long wall of Anaftafms, formed about twenty- 
 five or thirty miles in front of Conftantinople. Zo* 
 naras fays, that it began at Selymbria * ; but the 
 ruins ftill feen, extend from a little beyond Heraclea 
 to Dercpn, and thus all the country between the Pro- 
 pontis and the Euxinefea was inclofed for a diftance of 
 four hundred and twenty fladia. An ecclefiaftical writer, 
 named Evagrius, infmuates that, behind this bulwark, 
 a canal was dug to convey veflels along the continent 
 from the one fea to the other. Conftantinople, fays 
 he, formerly fituated in a peninfula, became in this 
 manner an ifland f . The man however appears too in- 
 judicious for any dependance to be placed on his tefti- 
 mony. Nothing could be more humiliating to thr 
 eaftern empire than this mode of defending its capi- 
 
 * Annal. in Anaftaf. Dicor. 
 
 f Evag. lib. iii, Suida, and Niccphorut, lib. xxxix. 
 
 to!
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 83 
 
 tal againft the Bulgarian, Thracian, and Scythian 
 tavalry. But Anaftafius had no horfemen capable of 
 oppofing thofe of the enemy j and to preferve Con- 
 ftantinople, he was forced to abandon all his Euro- 
 pean territories, except the fmall fpot within the 
 great wall. Every thing beyond it was at the difcre- 
 tion of the barbarians, who had long before cleared 
 the pafles of mount Hscmus ; and the macron teichos 
 no longer remained, when the Turks came to befiegc 
 Conftantinople. 
 
 Such, even in the beginning of the fix- 
 teenth century, was the ftate of that empire, which 
 feems to have pafled through all the different degrees 
 of decay ; and no power was ever more regularly de- 
 ftroyed. The fciences were loft firft j then the arts ; 
 military difcipline afterwards ; and finally every thing 
 that refembled force or conduct. But what never 
 ceafed in thofe unfortunate times were enormous 
 taxes, and religious difputes, which contributed 
 greatly to throw all parts of the government into a 
 diforder, hitherto unexampled in hiftory. 
 
 Some veftiges of a fourth macron teichos, Hill more 
 cxtenfive than that of Anaftafius, are found in Bui- 
 garia, near a town called Dryfta. But we can only 
 learn, from the ftyle of architecture, that it muft 
 have been raifed by fome Greek emperor, who op- 
 pofed this barrier in vain to the inundations of bar- 
 barians. It is not furprifing that fo little mould be 
 known of a monument of this kind in a favage re- 
 gion, when a total ignorance prevails relative to the 
 wall of Valais. Many confiderable fragments of 
 
 G 2 that
 
 ?4 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 that fabric are feen flill between the Rhone and Burg* 
 berg ; but no perfon can determine whether it was 
 built before the days of Cadar, or only in ifni cation 
 of the rampart he employed fo ineffectually againfl 
 the Swifs : to me however the former opinion feems 
 highly improbable. 
 
 Much confufion likewife appears in what has been 
 written concerning the different works of this kind 
 conftru&ed by the Roman emperors in Great Britain. 
 Even the authors of that country are not all of the 
 fame fentiments j but we mail endeavour, in a few 
 words, to remove fome "of the principal difficulties. 
 Agricola, who knew the ifland perfectly well, was 
 perfuaded that nothing was more necefiary than to 
 keep pofieffion of a pafs, thirty-two miles acrofs, be- 
 tween the river Clyde and the Frith of Forth. Adrian, 
 however, inftead of adopting this plan, chofe ano- 
 ther place eighty miles broad ; and it mould be ob- 
 ferved, that the military mile is eftimated there at 
 four hundred and twenty feet more than on the con- 
 tinent. Thus the Romans began by conftructing a 
 vallum of piles and fods, twice longer than was ne- 
 cefifary. This rampart proved ineffectual : another, 
 built by Antoninus Pius, was foon deflroyed ; and a 
 third, by Severus, fliared the fame fate. At length., 
 under the reign of Valentinian the third, JEtius, con- 
 ceiving that all thefe works had failed from the nature 
 of their conftruction, caufed a real wall twenty feet 
 thick to be erected. But to prove how much he was 
 miftaken, this rampart had not been finimed five 
 years before it was forced, firft at one place, and 
 
 after-
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 85 
 
 afterwards every-where. Buchanan affures us, that 
 the ruins began to be found only in his day ; and they 
 are at leaft fo far ufeful, that they now ferve to build 
 houfes *. 
 
 By thefe and many other fads, we find that the 
 origin of the power of the barbarians fhould be dated 
 in the reign of Adrian, when the fortifications raifed 
 againfl them revealed the fccret of their force. In 
 proportion as the Romans intrenched the limits of 
 the empire, their military difcipline declined j and 
 the fame effect muft have been obferved in every 
 country inclofed by walls, without even excepting 
 China. Thus all the bulwarks, raifed in Great Bri- 
 tain, were lefs effectual, as we have feen, than the 
 judicious pofts and encampments of Agricola.- 
 
 The Romans conftrufted likewife a great wall in 
 upper Germany, equally faulty, and as difficult to 
 be defended as that of China. D'Anville's map of 
 ancient Germany makes it begin oppofite Ober-Wefel ; 
 and after placing many interftices, the ftrongeft part 
 is reprefented to have been at a fpot where the emperor 
 Valentinian raifed fome works on the lower Necker. 
 This arrangement, however, cannot be adopted ; for 
 the line was certainly uninterrupted, and equally for- 
 tified in its whole extent. Mr. Hanfelman, who has 
 given a good defcription of this work in German, 
 fays, that the tradition of the country dates it as 
 having been commenced in the reign of Adrian, and 
 continued by his fucceffors. The laft branch, which 
 ftretched towards the Danube, was added by Probus, 
 
 * Buchanan, lib. iv. Polydor. Virgil, lib. i. 
 
 03 as
 
 6 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 as fome medals of that prince teftify beyond a doubt *. 
 It began on the banks of the Rhine, oppofite Bin- 
 gen, where the Romans had a fortified camp ever 
 fmce the time of Auguftus : thence it pafled into the 
 county of Solms, forming an elbow to approach the 
 Mein ; and continuing through the foreft of Otton, 
 or Odenwald, it croffed the county of Holach, 
 touched the Necker, flretched to Hall in Suabia, and 
 taking the direction of Eichftadt and Weiffenburgh, 
 terminated at Pfeurring in the territory of Ratifron. 
 Thus no paflage was left open in all the vafl fpace be- 
 tween the Rhine and the Danube ; and, from the 
 ruins ftill found, we have reafon to believe, that this 
 rampart contained entire citadels, and numerous 
 towers, ftrongly fortified. The Romans were obliged 
 to give it fo winding a courfe, in order to cover the 
 territories of fome nations, fuch as the Mattiad^ 
 with whom they were flridly allied. But even by 
 being conftru&ed in the fhorteft line poffible, it could 
 not have anfwered the purpofe of reftraining the 
 Cutti) and other German nations, ftyled wandering, 
 becaufe, having no country, they fought one through-* 
 out the whole world. Marching with their flocks, 
 like the Tartars, they refembled them alfo in the 
 aftonifhing facility with which they changed the 
 paftoral for a military life. Germany had anciently 
 many fuch hordes, who wandered about constantly, 
 
 * Dxderlein, Vorftellung dei alten Raemifchen P'alli und 
 Landwehr, iii. Abfch. The work of Mr. Hanfelman may like- 
 wife be confulted ; the objeft of which is to inquire how far the 
 Romans had erer penetrated into Suabia, and high Germany. 
 
 and
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 87 
 
 and emigrated frequently. The fettled cantons had 
 no other means of defence inthofe days, againft un- 
 expected attacks, than by furrounding themfelves 
 with vaft deferts ; and this method, ftill pra&ifed in 
 the time of Julius Csefar, would have kept them al- 
 ways barbarians. But afterwards the Germans, hav- 
 ing procured better inflruments for cutting down 
 the woods, and digging the earth, fortified them- 
 felves againft each other by works called Landivehr. 
 The idea of this kind of rampart is fuppofed to have 
 originated in Gaulj although it was generally prac- 
 tifed among all nations, when they began to cultivate 
 the earth regularly in thofe countries, where their 
 neighbours continued to be wandering. 
 
 It will be fufficient here juft to mention a vallum 
 Rcmanum, extending from Widdin to Little Waradin, 
 and fome other mounds of the fame kind, conftructed 
 by the Goths, who, of all the barbarians at that time, 
 inclined moft to civilization. In the north of Eu- 
 rope, we find the Daneiverck, raifed by the Normans, 
 when they began to be known by the name of Danes. 
 To prevent the incurfions of the Saxons into Jutland, 
 they endeavoured to mut up the paflage by a terrace, 
 extending to the more of the Baltic ; and on this very 
 dike, Waldemar the Great conftruded a wall, which 
 is lefs injured at the prefent day, than could well be 
 expected. 
 
 Such is the hiftory of the greateft and moft ufelefs 
 works ever reared by man on the furface of the an- 
 cient continent.
 
 SECT. VII. 
 
 THE religion of ancient Egypt is a real abyfs, 
 where many writers have been fwallowed up in 
 attempting to found its depth. Such numerous and 
 different fuperftitions, which fometimes are altoge- 
 ther inexplicable, can never admit of being reduced 
 to any particular fyflem. 
 
 Van Dale had reafon to believe, that the facred 
 animals were inftituted in Egypt for the purpofe of 
 divination. Yet, if we except one obfcure paflage 
 in Julian relative to crocodiles, nothing is known 
 with certainty of any other oracles, than thofe of 
 the bull Apis, which comprehended every thing, al- 
 though they were originally confined to the over-, 
 flowing of the Nile. On this point the Egyptians 
 have at all times teftified the greatefl inquietude, 
 without confidering that other animals were as igno- 
 rant of the matter as themfelves. The crocodiles 
 are faid to depofite their eggs beyond the reach of 
 the inundations j but this is a vulgar opinion, adopted 
 only in fome towns fituated on the branches of the 
 
 Nile,
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS, &c. 89 
 
 Jsfile. Naturalifts believe that the hippopotamus 
 gives furer indications ; becaufe the inhabitants pre- 
 tend to have obferved that when, previous to the 
 floods, it frequently appears on fhore, the river al- 
 ways rifes fufficiently afterwards to water the lands. 
 The Copts, however, at this day employ no animal 
 in their prognoftics on the (late of the Nile ; and yet 
 their ceremonies for that purpofe, during which even 
 the Turks aflifl at mafs, are fully as fuperflitious as 
 the mode of interrogating the bull Apis. When that 
 animal refufed to eat, the ornen was not lefs fatal 
 than the abflinence of the facred chickens, which 
 were confulted by the Romans on great affairs, while 
 matters of little confequence could be decided by 
 crows. If Juvenal had been judicious enough to re- 
 flect on this, he would not have written his fatire on 
 the Egyptians ; for the difference between fuppoling 
 a calf or a chicken acquainted with future events is 
 Jurely not very material. 
 
 By all that has been collected in this Section, re* 
 fpecting the wprfnip offered to fcarabees, it appears 
 that they likewife ferved for auguries ; and we mud: 
 fuppofe thofe infects at leaft as well informed in fuch 
 matters as the priefteffes of Delphi ; for whom Plato 
 teftified fo much regard. This was in confequence of 
 his being perfuaded that no civilized nation can have 
 a reafonable religion ; and the fame fentiment feems 
 to have prevailed among all the legiflators of anti- 
 quity. We mall fee prefently, that this falfe and 
 whimfical opinion was founded entirely on the fup- 
 pofed danger of making innovations in the religious 
 
 practices,
 
 9 
 
 practices, which had been received from the favages 
 of the country, or, as Plato flyles them, the indi- 
 genous inhabitants. 
 
 The greater part of the religious ceremonies of the 
 Egyptians came from the favages of Ethiopia, as 
 Diodorus fays in the moft unequivocal manner ; and 
 the facl; is of a nature not to be doubted. Yet no 
 perfon has hitherto ever undertaken to feek in 
 Ethiopia the origin of a woifhip, evidently invented 
 there. Mr. Jablonfki was perfe&ly capable of making 
 fuch refearches, the refult of which would have been, 
 infinitely more fatisfaftory than the conjectures he 
 has hazarded, and the contradictions he could not 
 avoid. 
 
 At the article Phtha, he defcribes the Egyptians 
 as atheifts, whofe fyflem refembled too exactly that 
 of Spinofa, for any perfon to be deceived, who had 
 the lead penetration. 
 
 At the article Cneph, or Cnuphis, he changes the 
 fame Egyptians into deifts, who admit of an intelli- 
 gent Being diftinct from matter the Sovereign of 
 Nature. 
 
 Mr. Jablbnfld, who had much good fenfe, and flill 
 more erudition, would furely have reafoned in a dif- 
 ferent manner, had he been lefs connecled with La 
 Croze, who, by the confeffion even of his panegy- 
 rift, became a mere vifionary in the decline of life, 
 without any figns of the little judgment he formerly 
 poflefled. That man, bred a monk, flattered him- 
 felf greatly on his penetration in difcovering atheifm 
 every-where j and he fancied he had found it in the. 
 
 wretched
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 91 
 
 wretched Latin verfes compofed by a fool, called Jor- 
 dan le Brim, who was committed to the flames by 
 fome villains in Italy. It is madnefs, or at leaft imbe- 
 cility, to accufe whole nations of atheifm, when they 
 produce a few bad metaphyficians, who by means of 
 certain fubtilties lofe themfelves in a cloud of ideas ; 
 and their abfurdities difcover impertinent reafoners, 
 rather than atheifts feriouflv determined on main- 
 
 j 
 
 taining their opinions. Thofe, v/ho adopt fyftems 
 without knowing the objections they may encounter, 
 would do better to remain within the limits of incer- 
 titude. 
 
 Ancient hiftorians and geographers unfortunately 
 give us very little information concerning the Ethi- 
 opians. Yet the few notions we have been able to 
 colled, are fufficient to explain feveral difficulties, 
 and render the way lefs obfcure. In the firft place, 
 it appears certain, that, with regard to religious mat- 
 ters, they always remained clofely connected with the 
 Egyptians. They came annually to carry the fhrine 
 of Jupiter Ammon from Thebes to the limits of 
 Ethiopia, where a folemn feaft was celebrated, which 
 certainly gave rife to the fmgular tradition of the 
 gods coming to eat at the Heliotrapeze, or the Table 
 cf the Sun *. When Homer aflures us, in the Iliad, 
 that Jupiter went frequently into Ethiopia, to aflift at 
 a great feftival, we may fuppofe the poet informed 
 of this ceremony f . Herodotus has erred in placing 
 the Table of the Sun at Meroe, although Solnus fup- 
 
 * Diodorus, lib. ii. Euftat. in Iliad, 
 f Lib. i.
 
 9 t PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 pofes it to have been dill more towards the fouth. 
 The whole proceffion required, as we are told, only- 
 twelve days, in going and returning by a different 
 road from that which extended along the eaft bank 
 of the Nile ; and it is impoflible to perform the jour- 
 ney in that time by the (horteft way from Thebes to 
 Meroe. The latter place had, however, a temple 
 dedicated likewife to Jupiter Ammon * ; and this 
 fact tends alfo to prove, that the religion of the 
 Egyptians and of the Ethiopians was originally the 
 fame. Among the former, indeed, fome changes 
 had been introduced in the courfe of many centuries ; 
 and the mod important of all related to the immo. 
 lation of human victims. Heliodorus, although a 
 great admirer of the Ethiopians, admits that they 
 facrificed boys to the Sun, and girls to the Moon f, 
 The colony fent by them into Egypt, continued like- 
 wife to daughter ftrangers, or men with red hair, on 
 the tomb of Ofiris, or the ftones confecrated to the 
 Sun ; and women were mod probably facrificed to the 
 Moon, in a fmall town called by the Greeks I/ithya. 
 Some remains of that place are ftill found on the 
 right bank of the Nile, near a fpot known by the 
 
 * Plinius, lib. vi. cap. 29. 
 
 f ^Ethiop. lib. x. Heliodorus fays, that the Ethiopians facri- 
 ficed ftrangers only who were taken in war ; and although the 
 gymnofophifts reprobated fuch facrifices, the people perflited in 
 offering them. The Greeks imagined that the Egyptians immo- 
 lated red-haired men in the town of Diana, or Ilithya : but, in 
 my opinion, it is more probable that they facrificed wo- 
 men. 
 
 name
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 5 $ 
 
 tiame of El-Kab, not more than twenty-four leagues 
 from the confines of Ethiopia. 
 
 Mr. Jablonfld was therefore wrong in fuppofing, 
 that thefe atrocities had been borrowed from the 
 fhepherd Arabs. They were at length totally abo- 
 liihed in the reign of Pharaoh Amafis ; while the fa- 
 mous law for burning heretics alive, was not repealed 
 in England until the time of Charles II. The hif- 
 tory of Egypt has never fince afforded any inftances 
 of that nature : but in Ethiopia it was more difficult 
 to reform religion, becaufe the civil laws had lefs 
 power over the people, who were frequently difperfed 
 either in hunting, or wandering with their flocks in 
 fearch of pafture. 
 
 The firft gymnofophifts of Ethiopia moft pro- 
 bably were nothing more than wandering priefts, like 
 thofe ftill known in Africa by the name of Marabtit. 
 That word, literally tranflated, fignifies Child of the 
 burning reed ; either becaufe thofe importers fome- 
 times burn their victims with reeds, or perhaps in al- 
 lufion to their pretending to vomit fire, while they 
 conceal kindled tow under their garments. An ex- 
 ample of this wasfeen in one thoufand feven hundred 
 and thirty-one ; but executed in fo awkward a man- 
 ner, that negroes only could have fwallowed the de- 
 ception. When a nation has no other than wander- 
 ing priefls, it is eafy to conceive, that among the 
 numberlefs different fuperftitions introduced there, 
 fome muft of courfe be contradictory ; becaufe opi- 
 nions not being reduced to any body of doctrine, 
 each juggler endeavours to advance his own. Count 
 i Boulain-
 
 94 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 Boulainvilliers fays, that among people like the mep- 
 herd Arabs, the idea of a God Creator muft have 
 been longeft preferred in all its purity *. But he 
 knew nothing at all of the ancient Arabs, concern- 
 ing whom Sate has procured explications, which 
 prove that their notions of the Divinity were very de- 
 graded. This indeed muft have been the cafe, becaufe 
 each tribe multiplied the number of Fetiches and Ma- 
 nitous, of which the facred animals of Egypt and 
 Greece are the remains. For it might be proved, if 
 the thing appeared of fuffieient confequence, that the 
 Greeks were likewife greatly attached to the worfhip 
 of animals : they revered, to a certainty, about 
 twelve or thirteen different kinds, without including 
 the weafel of Bseotia. 
 
 The fpirit of the gymnofophifls did not begin to 
 be developed until they were united in a fedentary 
 body, or college, principally flationed at Meroe. 
 They then began to apply themfelves to ftudy, and 
 place fome order among the Ethiopian hieroglyphics : 
 but unfortunately the treatife written particularly on 
 that fubjecl:, by the philofopher Democrims, is en- 
 tirely loft f . No perfon mould be tempted to credit 
 fuch extravagant praifes as thofe lavifhed by the Ro- 
 man writer Philoftratus, on the gymnofophifts J. 
 Yet it is poffible, that in laboring to compile their 
 hieroglyphics, they might have invented the fyllabi- 
 cal alphabet, ufed at this day in Abyflinia and Nubia, 
 
 * Life of Mahomet. f Apud Laertium. 
 
 la rit. Apollon. lib. vi cap. 6. 
 
 whither
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 9-$ 
 
 Kvhither it could not be brought from any other 
 country *. That difcovery was the more interefting, 
 as without it literal characters could never have been 
 invented. It is a flrange folly in Plato to accufe the 
 priefts of Egypt of having injured irreparably the 
 fciences, by inventing the art of writing. According 
 to him, it tends prodigiouily to weaken the memory ; 
 and Julius Csefar feems inclined to fupport this pre- 
 judice, when fpeaking of the Druids, who furely 
 never got any thing by heart but abfurdities. 
 
 Although fome paflages are found in Diodorus and 
 Strabo, relative to the opinions of the gymnofophifts 
 concerning the Divinity, yet it mud be confeifed that 
 they are very obfcure. They feem founded entirely 
 on the authority of fome Greek merchants, who 
 about the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus began to 
 penetrate into the centre of Africa. We know no- 
 thing more with certainty, than that they acknow- 
 ledged the exiftence of a God Creator, incomprehen- 
 fible by his nature, but vifible in his works, which, 
 according to them, are equally animated with the di- 
 vine fpirit. From this doctrine proceeded the fymbo- 
 lical worfhip adapted to the genius of the Africans, 
 whofe ardent imagination required to be fixed by 
 palpable objects like the Fetiches, and their anxiety 
 concerning futurity, calmed by auguries. The 
 Greeks and Romans confulted the oracles every in- 
 
 * Herodotus obferres, in his fourth book, that the Ethiopians 
 *fed two very different chara&ers. The firft confifted of hiero- 
 glyphics, from which thofe of Egypt were copied ; the fecond we 
 may iuppofe to have been a fyllabical alphabet. 
 
 ftant
 
 96 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 ftant merely from habit j but among the Africans* 
 that cuflom feems to have been a phyfical want pecu- 
 liar to warm climates, where the minds of the com- 
 mon people are extremely weak and impatient. In 
 Europe it is remarked, that women in general are 
 much more eager after predictions than men ; while 
 philofophers, undifturbed at the idea of what may 
 happen, correct or fupport bad fortune. 
 
 Many natural reafons explain why oracles have 
 ceafed in fome places of ancient Europe and Afia ; 
 but they can never be abandoned in Africa. Two are 
 known at this day on the weftern coaft, which are as 
 famous as ever could have been that of Delphi. By 
 an unpardonable ignorance of modern hiflory, both 
 Van Dale and Fontinelle have been led to admit, in 
 favor of their adverfaries, that all oracles are now 
 really filent. This falfity, however, is demonftrated 
 by the narratives of travellers, who are now living^ 
 and particularly by Romer. 
 
 When Pliny and Solnus fay, that fome cantons of 
 Ethiopia had elected a dog for their king, it can only 
 be underftood, that they rendered worfhip to that 
 animal, of which we have feen many examples 
 among the Egyptians their defcendants. The in- 
 formation of the ancients concerning the interior of 
 Africa, was certainly more extenfive than ours ; but 
 on the other hand the coafts are much better known 
 to us ; and all the nations there, without exception, 
 revere ferpents. The inhabitants of the kingdom of 
 Judhac worfhip one fpecies, which feems to have no 
 noxious qualities j and it is even fuppofed to deftroy 
 
 fome
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 97 
 
 feme finall black-colored adders, faid to be venom- 
 bus : but other negroes have converted real vipers 
 into fetiches, although their bite almoft invariably 
 occafions death . In general, the adoration paid to 
 Terpents is founded on the fear naturally entertained 
 'by mankind for thofe reptiles : fuch as are dan- 
 gerous, it is fuppofed, mould be conciliated ; and the 
 others feem to merit a peculiar diftinction, as if a ge- 
 nius, friendly to humanity, had taken care to difarm 
 them ; and this clafs has principally been ufed for 
 "prognoftication. The omens were confidered favor- 
 able when the Ifiac ferpents tafled the offering, and 
 dragged themfelves flowly round the altan But it 
 muft be obferved that forne of thofe reptiles attach 
 themfelves like dogs to their matters, and learn dif- 
 ferent tricks, which are never after forgotten : thus 
 we may, with fome certainty, fuppofe, that "the fer- 
 pents of His were taught to obey the voice or gef- 
 tures of the minivers. The Cneph, or divine good- 
 nefs, was repreferited by an innocent adder ; an'd 
 ftrength or power, by a viper. The priefls of Ethi* 
 opia, as well as thofe of Egypt, wore the figure of 
 the latter coiled up in their bonnets of ceremony ; 
 and we have already had occafion to obferve, that the 
 diadem of the Pharaohs was likewife ornamented with 
 this emblem*. 
 
 The worlhip rendered to ferpents was not confined 
 to particular towns of Thebais and Delta j for Jilian 
 
 * Sacerdofes JEthiopum et TEgyptlorum gentnt pikos ollongos in 
 vertice umbilicum halentesy et fsrpentilus, yuos Ajpides afpet'attt, cir- 
 (unwolutos. Diod. lib. iv. 
 
 VOL. ii, H afTures
 
 5 s PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 affures us, that they were kept in all the temples of 
 Egypt * : this feems the more probable, becaufe it 
 was one of the mod ancient, or perhaps the firft fu- 
 perflhion of the inhabitants of Africa, where the 
 largefl adders were carefully collected for the tem- 
 ples of Serapis : fome of thofe brought by the Ethi- 
 opians to Alexandria were twenty-live or twenty-fix 
 feet in length; but they are found of more than twice 
 thatfizein Senegal. 
 
 The want of documents prevents us from entering 
 Into further difcuffions concerning the particular de- 
 votion of the college of Meroe : we know, however, 
 that it terminated in the mofl fatal manner, from hav- 
 ing conftantly oppofed the progrefs of defpotifm 
 that ancient malady of fovereigns. Ergamenes, the 
 tyrant, who was cotemporary with Ptolemy Phila- 
 delphus, and a Greek by origin, is faid to have 
 caufed all the gymnofophifts to be maflacred in one 
 day; and this threw that part of Ethiopia into a 
 ftate of defolation, whence it has never fince recover- 
 ed. Some ruins only are found of Axum^ Pfelchcs t 
 and Na/fhthe, where fome years ago the Jews, it was 
 faid, intended to form a (late independent of the 
 Turks and Abyffinians. This report, however, has 
 not been confirmed ; and indeed they are to be con- 
 fidered as not only incapable of executing, but even 
 of meditating fuch a project, for they know no other 
 heroifm than ufury. 
 
 The philofophers of Ethiopia, like thofe of Egypt, 
 probably clothed their knowledge in allego- 
 
 * Pe Nat. Animal, lib. x. cap. 31. 
 
 rics:
 
 6tf THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. $9 
 
 Vies : on this mud have been founded the fable re- 
 lated by Plutarch, concerning fome towns and villages 
 fituated near the iflahd of Elephamis, which Pharaoh 
 Amafis promifed to cede to the king of Ethiopia, if 
 his gymnofophifts fucceeded in explaining certain 
 enigmas. The Ethiopians, he adds, hazarded fome of 
 their territories on the fame condition ! but although 
 we read other fuch ftories in the writings of the 
 amplifier Jofephus, and in the life of ^Efop, contpofed 
 by a fool called Planudes ; we muft not be tempted 
 to believe that the fovereigns of antiquity were ib 
 eafily difpofed to fport with their dominions : Egypt 
 in particular was too fmall to be difmembered for an 
 enigma, particularly by fuch good neighbours as the 
 Ethiopians, who never attempted to turn afide the 
 courfe of the Nile, concerning the portability of 
 which more mail be faid in the Section on Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 After what has already been obferved, ic would be 
 fuperfluous to refute the many diiFerent fyftems pro- 
 pofed, ever fmce the days of Ifocrates, on the origin 
 of the worfhip rendered to animals* We find that 
 the Egyptians, inftead of being the inventors, had 
 brought that cuftom with them from Ethi-opiaj where 
 it feems to have originated with the ferpents, and the 
 fmall bull, fuppofed to be the bubalos of naturalifts. 
 This animal, the dwarf of its fpeciesj has horns re- 
 fembling thofe of the moon ; and the imagination of 
 the Africans has frequently been (truck by fimilitudes 
 much lefs obvious. The colony of Ethiopians, who 
 took poffeilion of the valley of the Lower Nile, in- 
 
 H % ' ftead
 
 joo PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 (lead of renouncing, became more than ever attached 
 to fuch fuperftitious practices, when they remarked 
 the utility of the cat, weafel, ichneumon, fparrpw- 
 hawk, vulture, fcreech-owl, flork, and ibis. It was 
 abfolutely neceffary to put fuch animals .under the 
 particular protection of the law ; otherwife the coun- 
 tiy would have been altogether uninhabitable. The 
 Turks, who do not pretend to be idolaters, are as 
 careful in preventing the ibis from being deftroyed as 
 the Greeks and Romans. Whatever may be the re- 
 ligion of thofe who mail in future poiTefs that coun- 
 try, they will always continue to refpect thofe animal?, 
 fo juflly named the purifiers of Egypt. 
 
 It has always appeared unaccountable to the an- 
 cients, as well as to the moderns, that fonie towns 
 ihould have adored crocodiles. Cicero is the only 
 perfon who fuppofes that this was in confequence of 
 their utility*; but he would have been much em- 
 barrafled to explain in what confided this advantage, 
 fo inconceivable to much more able naturalifls. In 
 the year one thoufand feven hundred and feventy, 
 having been particularly engaged in fludying the to- 
 pography of Egypt, it firft occurred to me that Cop^ 
 tos, Arfmoe, and Crocodilopolis the iecond, the 
 towns moil remarkable for the adoration of croco- 
 diles, were all fltuated on canals at fonie diitance from 
 the Nile. Thus by the lead negligence in allowing, 
 the ditches to be filled up, thofe animals, from being 
 incapable of going far on dry land, could never have. 
 
 * Poffem ffe tcknevmonuin uliiitate ? d? crccoJHorum, de f ilium 
 dicere ; fidnoto tfrelongus- Cicero de Nat. Dcorum, lib. i. cap. 36.. 
 
 arrived
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 101 
 
 arrived at thofe three places, where they were confi- 
 dered as the fymbols of water fit for drinking and 
 watering the fields, as we learn from JElian, and 
 more particularly in a paffage of Eufebius*. As 
 long as this worfhip was in vogue, the government 
 might remain aiTured that the fuperftitious would not 
 neglect to repair the canals with the greateft exa61> 
 nefs. In the fame manner every dependance could 
 be placed on the Oxyrinchites for preferving the great 
 canal, now known by the name of Ka/itz il Menhi> on 
 which depended the arrival, among them, of the fa- 
 cred fifh called oxyrinchus. Two other towns, in- 
 deed, Crocrodilopolis the third, and Ombos, had 
 Jikewife their crocodiles : Mr. d'Anville hefitates in 
 fixing the pofition of Ombos, but he mould have 
 placed it further inland, towards the foot of the 
 Arabic heights, for we know that the inhabitants had 
 dug vaft ditches for watering their plantations f. It 
 is therefore eafy to conceive why the people of the 
 Arfmoite Nome, or the province of Feium, had a 
 crocodile called Suc/ju, or the juft, ornamented with 
 golden ear-rings and bracelets, as we learn from 
 Strabo, That lizard was to them not the emblem of 
 Typhon, as fome have believed, but of the water on 
 which their exiftence depended, fo entirely, that they 
 
 * Per hom'mem crocodito impofttam naixm mgred'ientem ; navemqus 
 flgn'tficar-e motum m humido, crocodllum vero aytiam potui aptam. Eufeb. 
 Pra?.par. Evan. lib. iii. cap. n. 
 
 f ^Slian dc Nat. Animal, lib. x. cap. 21. The fituaticn of 
 Crocodilopolis the third is not known; but from what we know 
 of the other towns, which h;id the fame name, it cannot be fup- 
 to have been on the banks of the Nile, 
 
 u 3 could
 
 io PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 could not have fubfifled fix months if the canals to-. 
 wards Illahon had been neglected. It is probable 
 that the Arfmoites endeavoured to draw fome au-, 
 guries from their facred crocodiles, relative to the 
 future overflowing of the Nile, becaufe they were 
 flill more interefted in that event than thofe who 
 lived in the towns along the river. 
 
 We have already, in another part of this work, 
 attempted to explain what might have been the ob* 
 ject of the worfhip offered to the fquill, or fea-onion, 
 by the people of Pelufium and Ca/ium, fome of whom 
 were attacked with a fwelling of the tympanite kind, 
 and a delirium called typbomany^ which, as the term 
 denotes, was an Egyptian diforder. It is furprifmg 
 that iaint Jerome, when fpeaking of this extenfion 
 of the inteftines, did not perceive that it produced 
 thofe effects, which he endeavoured to render ridi- 
 culous*. It v/ould certainly have been more rea- 
 fonable to pity unfortunate people, labouring under 
 natural infirmities, produced by the fogs of the lake 
 Sirbon, which are faid to be no lefs noxious than 
 thole of the lake Afphaltis, or the Dead Sea, particu- 
 larly during the heat of fummer. Mr. Pococke, who 
 vifited the latter in April, found himfelf afflicted with 
 a weaknefs of ftomach, and an exceffive dizzinefs, 
 from having neglected, as he' was told by the people 
 of the country, to ufe fufficient precaution againft 
 the vapors. When the Arabs pafs near that vaft 
 river, where the water is fo thick that it prevents 
 
 ' Taceam eJe formtdolofo Cff korrtlili cepe, lf crep'.tu I'tntris in* 
 jfo/.', gui fclufiaca religlo eft. In Ifai, lib. xii. 
 
 animal
 
 ON THE "EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 105 
 
 animal bodies from finking, they cover their mouths, 
 and breathe only through the noftrils. 
 
 Among the iuperftitions of the Egyptians, fome 
 at firft fight feem unaccountable, fuch as their de- 
 votion to the fhrew-moufe : it was revered in the 
 town of Atribis, and embalmed after death in a fe- 
 pulchre for the purpofe at Butos, although the dif- 
 tance between the two places was more than fifty 
 miles. The eyes of that little animal being almoft 
 as much concealed as thofe of the mole, Plutarch 
 pretends, that the Egyptians, believing it to be en- 
 tirely blind, fancied in this fome fimilitude to the 
 diminution of light in the waning moon, and to the 
 Athor, or the attribute of the Divinity perfonified 
 under that name, which was, in fact, the incompre- 
 henfibility of God, compared with the darknefs of 
 night and of chaos. But before any fuch forced 
 and complicated references were invented, fome much 
 more natural property muft have been difcovered in 
 the fhrew-moufe. It has always appeared to me that 
 the Egyptians, like the Greek naturalifts, confidered 
 that animal as belonging to the clafs of weafels*, 
 which received equal protection with the ichneumons* 
 The latter, we know, were confecrated to the Egyp- 
 tian Hercules, who was the fame divinity with the 
 Hercules of Thebes, in Beotia ; but as Greece pro- 
 
 * The Greeks gave the name of weaftl-monfe to the fhrew- 
 moufe, becanic they conceived it partook of the nature of both 
 thofe Animals. This was certainly a more proper term than that 
 qf mus-nransut, which was ufed by the Latins, for it had fome 
 fefemblan.cc to the \veafcl and none at all to the fpidcr. 
 
 n .1 duced
 
 104 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 duced no ichneumons, the Thebans made no difiU 
 culty of fupplying their place with weafels ; and al- 
 though Greeks, lap .ZElian, they are not lefs ridicu- 
 lous for adopting iuch an abfurd devotion *. The 
 inveteracy of the weafel towards rats and mice made 
 the Egyptians place that animal under the protection 
 of the law ; and finding fomething of a refemblance, 
 however trifling, in the fhrew-moufe, they were led to 
 imagine all the fymbolical doctrine already men- 
 tioned. 
 
 Some facred animals pofleffed only enigmatical and 
 augural properties, in whatever manner they are 
 confidered : fuch was the fcarabee, dedicated to the 
 fun, r.nd very different from the ugly infect mentioned 
 by Pliny. From the defcription given by Orus Apollo, 
 who fays it refembles thefparkling luftre of the eye of 
 a cat in the dark, we may conclude that the Egyptians 
 had taken, for the fymbol of the fun, the great golden 
 fcarabee, called by fome the cantharides. This infect 
 is frequently feen in gardens, where it feeds on ants 
 and fmall worms j when the light falls directly on 
 the fhield of its wings, it has perfectly the appearance 
 which the Latin tranilator of Orus Apollo calls, radils. 
 infignitj. The. other fcarabees of Egypt were the 
 monoceros, with one horn on its corfelet, and the 
 horn beetle with two, which it fhuts like pincers. All 
 the fuperftitions, relative to thefe three infects, were 
 confidered as very ancient ; and they appear to have 
 been common to the Ethiopians, and other inhabit- 
 
 * Thclc.r.'i, quamvis natione Grxri, r'ifii funt obruend'i ; qul 
 '<- cohmt. De Nat. Animal, lib. xii. cap. 5. 
 
 ants
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 105 
 
 ants of Africa, even before Egypt was inhabited*. 
 Some traces of the fame wormip are found, not only 
 in the holy cricket of Madagafcar, but likevvife 
 among the Hottentots, who, as we read in the General 
 Hiflory of Travels, look with veneration on the perfons 
 over whom either the fcarabee with golden rays, or 
 the horn-beetle of the Cape, chances to pafs, becaufe 
 they confider it as a fortunate omen. What appears 
 dill more furprinng is, that the fame prejudices, with 
 regard to the fcarabee, have been introduced into 
 Europe, where it is called by the vulgar, the Fly of 
 the Lord. This fuperftition could not have proceeded 
 from the writings of St. Ambrofe, becaufe they are 
 never read by the common people, who muft, there- 
 fore, be ignorant that he has frequently compared the 
 Meffiah to a Scarabee, without leaving us even the 
 fhadow of a conjecture on what fuch a (trange com- 
 parifon could be founded. In many places of Europe 
 the fong of the cricket is likewife confidered as pro- 
 pitious ; and many perfift in preferving thefe infects* 
 although their (hrill and monotonous noife is almoil 
 infupportable, when they become very numerous. 
 Whatever may be the devotion of Europeans towards 
 crickets, it does not equal that of the Africans, who 
 make a living by rearing them ; and the rich wouk} 
 think themselves at enmity with heaven, if they di4 
 not preferve whole (warms in ovens, conftruded ex*. 
 prefly for the purpofe. It fhould be conftantly re- 
 
 * Scarabces are, even now, feen fculptured on ftones in the royal 
 (epulchres of Bibur.-J-ZLj!uk. We have already obfei ved that thofe 
 Sjcnuments art more ancient than the pyramids. 
 
 membered,
 
 to6 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 membered, that the minds of the lower clafs of 
 people are liable to be forcibly (truck with trifling 
 matters. Not many years ago the French peafants 
 began to render a kind of religious worfhip to the 
 chryfalis of the catterpillar, found on the great nettle, 
 becaufe they fancied it revealed evident traces of the 
 Divinity. M. des Landes allures us, that the curates 
 had even ornamented the altars with thefe maggots ; 
 as grafshoppers and canary fparrows are kept in cages 
 Jn Spain to (ing during the celebration of mafs* 
 If the imagination of man can be carried to this 
 point in our temperate climates, can any perfon be 
 furprifed that the Africans, whofe fancy is exalted 
 by the fire of the atmofphere, mould difcover fome 
 refemblance between the horns of the moon and thofe 
 of the bubalos ; or between the horn-beetle and the 
 zodiacal Bull ? 
 
 In the monuments defcribed by Montfaucon and 
 Count Caylus, the Egyptian women are feen feeding 
 the fcarabees on tables, or altars. This probably 
 reprefents the real mode of drawing auguries from 
 thofe infects, which were treated nearly in the fame 
 manner with the chickens at Rome, in the ceremony 
 of what Cicero calls, the tripudium, and terripavium, 
 in his fecond book on divination. However whim- 
 fical thofe practices may appear, they do not equal the 
 mode invented by the Chinefe for confulting the tor- 
 toife, which is one of their greateft oracles. That fu-r 
 perdition furely was not derived from the Egyptians, 
 
 * Recueil des differentsTraites de Phyfique, and Baretti's Letters 
 on Spain, 
 
 for
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 107 
 
 for the tortoife has never been even mentioned among 
 their facred animals ; yet all attempts to afcertain ex- 
 aftly the total number, have been hitherto ineffectual; 
 and the refearches of Mr. Blanchard, inferted in the 
 ninth volume of the Memoirs of the Academy of In- 
 fcriptions, are altogether imperfect and inconfiftent. 
 We mail, however, indicate here nearly all that can 
 be known of that matter from ancient authors ; and, 
 after having fpoken of the objefts of fymbolical wor- 
 ihip, we mail endeavour to develope the real fenti- 
 ments of the Egyptians concerning the effence of the 
 Divinity. 
 
 In a burgh, fituated at the northern extremity of 
 the lake Mareotis, a facred bull was fed ; and although 
 many other towns of Egypt pra&ifed the fame devo- 
 tion, yet the names of Hermonthis, Heliopolis, and 
 Memphis only, are recorded. The reputation of the 
 bull Apis eclipfed that of all the others, as foon as 
 the court of the kings was transferred to Thebes ; but 
 in other refpefts the Egyptians had as great veneration 
 for the environs of Memphis as for thofe of Abydos. 
 The learned cannot agree on the term fixed for the 
 life of Apis : Plutarch pretends that he was drowned 
 at the age of twenty-five years ; and this, according 
 to him, agreed with the number of characters con- 
 tained in the Egyptian alphabet : but Mr. Butter, who 
 fucceeded in finding out the Egyptian letters, by flu- 
 dying the fillets of the mummies, aflerts, that they 
 did not exceed twenty-two. It is probable that Apis 
 was deftroyed as foon as his appetite and vigour flagged 
 Binder thepreflure of age, becaufe in that flate he could 
 
 not
 
 joS PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS. 
 
 not give favorable auguries, the only fervice re- 
 quired of him by the people. It may be prefumed 
 that the pullarii, attached to the Roman legions, pre- 
 vented, in the fame manner, the facred chickens from 
 Jiving beyond a period preferibed by certain rules of 
 the arufpices. The Egyptians drew prognoftics alfo> 
 from the voice of children, who fang and played in 
 the procemon of Apis, or at the door of his ftall. 
 Mr. Jablonfki obferves, that the oracle of the Jews,. 
 known by the name of Bat-Kol, or daughter of the- 
 voice, appears to have been the fame with that o'f the 
 children in Egypt, who became prophets before they 
 were men. 
 
 Several towns of that extraordinary country, fuch as 
 JMomemphis, Chufe, and Aphroditopolis, kept facred 
 cows ; but the common burying-place of thofe ani- 
 mals was at Atharbechis, whither their bones were 
 brought in boats. Cats received almoil exactly the 
 fame treatment ; it was unlawful to kill them in any 
 part of the country, and when dead they were buriecj 
 at Bubaftus. Bears had likewife their fepulchre, pro- 
 bably at Papremis, a town dedicated to Typhon, or 
 the evil principle, who was fuppofed to be calmed by 
 having worfhip rendered to the hippopotamus, the 
 true fymbol of the typhonic fpirit. TJiat animal, fa 
 far from coming at the prefent day to Old Cairo, 
 never defcends below the cataracts of the Nile, and 
 it was by mere chance that one was taken at Damietta 4 
 after having loft itfelf in following the courfe of the 
 river. In ancient times the race mud have been much 
 more numerous than at prefent j and we find Uons
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. toy 
 
 and tygers diminiming in the fame manner. This is 
 likewife fuppofed to be the cafe with the crocodiles 
 of the Nile, for they certainly never mow themfelves 
 now in thofe places, where Seneca fays they were 
 very abundant in his time*. 
 
 It feemed, indeed, as if the Egyptians had intended 
 to make their country the receptacle of beafts ; and 
 yet they did not poffefs fo many different kinds as 
 Cicero intimates. In. the firft place, thofe ufed for 
 burden, like the dromedary, the camel, and the ele- 
 phant, were excluded, as well as all folipedes j for 
 the horfe was never admitted among the fetiche f, and 
 the Egyptians always difcovered a great antipathy to 
 the afs. This has been -afcribed to its (kin, which is 
 generally red in that country, where all animals of 
 that color were fuppofed to contain the effence of 
 fome diftemper : in fact, the Egyptians conceived it 
 to be incompatible with a good conftitution ; and 
 although their naturalifts have been turned into ri- 
 dicule on that account, even by M.Montefquieu, their 
 opinion is certainly more and more confirmed, at lead 
 \vith regard to cattle. 
 
 It is remarkable that the fame animals were gene- 
 rally confecrated in two different towns ; as we find 
 to have been the cafe with lions, dogs, rams, and 
 wolves. JElian pretends that the inhabitants of the 
 great Lycopolitan prefectory took care to pluck up 
 entirely that fpecies of aconite, vulgarly called -wolf's- 
 bane, left it mould. injure any of the objects of their 
 
 * Nat. CVueft. lib. xiv. cap. 2. It muft, however, be fuppofed 
 Seneca v,-a> well informed. 
 
 vene-
 
 its PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 X'eneration. This ftory, however, is truly ridiculous^ 
 when we reflect that the Lycopolitans never permitted 
 the wolves to run at liberty in their provinces : thofe 
 animals did not exceed infize the common houfe-dog> 
 and fome well preferved mummies have proved their 
 charaderiftics to be very different from what they 
 are defcribed by Herodotus. 
 
 Theweafel was revered principally in Thebais; the 
 ichneumon, or the rat of Pharaoh, in the towns of 
 Hercules, fuppofed by fome geographers to havebeert 
 three j the fhrew-moufe at Atribis and Buto ; the 
 antelope at Coptos; the bock-goat at Mendes, Thmuisj 
 and probably alfo at Panopolis : the otter, although 
 never tamed, was apparently privileged throughout 
 the whole country. The two towns of Mercury had 
 cynocephali, or papions, which, as well as the monkey 
 Cebus, feeninthe Babylon of Egypt, about two leagues 
 above Memphis* were brought from Ethiopia. 
 
 Epiphanes fpeaks of a chapel where ravens were 
 fed * ; but this mult have been a tomb near the lake 
 Maeris, which, according to the tradition of the coun- 
 try, contained the body of a bird of that fpecies, em- 
 ployed by an ancient king in carrying letters. No 
 other conveyance of letters was known in Egypt 
 than by means of pigeons ; and the origin of this 
 expedient is loft in the night of time : we 
 find it mentioned as a very common thing in the 
 verfes of Anacreon, who praclifed that manner of 
 fending billets, which were no doubt worthy of being 
 
 * In Ancot. torn, ii^ 
 
 carried
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. ill 
 
 carried by the favorite birds of Venus *. It is not 
 amifs to obferve here, that the obfervations in Mr 
 Mallet's work, relative to the cuftom of employing 
 pigeons in literary correfpondence, is extracted from 
 fome Arabic authors, who have evidently exaggerated; 
 and their teftimony befides is of no weight, with re- 
 gard to the diflant periods to which we now alludew 
 Diodorus Siculus informs us, that the government of 
 Egypt fent letters to every town in the whole king- 
 dom, announcing the increafe of the Nile the mea- 
 furement could only take place at the three Kilome- 
 ters ; and as pigeons were fo numerous, from their 
 being the chief food in times of the plague, it feemi 
 natural that the Egyptians mould have preferred them 
 For conveying fpeedy information j befides, it was 
 difficult for thofe meffengers to lofe their way there, 
 becaufe, in proportion as they afcended in the air, 
 they faw themfelves furrounded by the fea, and vail 
 deferts of fand. 
 
 Two towns, known by the name of Hieracopolis, 
 fed fparrow-hawks ; but a different fpecies, brought 
 from Ethiopia, and not hitherto afcertained by na- 
 turalids, was confecrated in the temple of Phyla;. 
 The eagle was revered in Thebais, and the fcreech- 
 owl at Sais ; the vulture, the ibis, the tadorne, the 
 ftork, and the puet, were univerfally facred, although 
 they had no temples ; while Arnobus allures us, that 
 fome chapels were dedicated entirely to fcarabees -}% 
 
 * Ode ix. 
 
 f Araob. adYtrfus Gent. lib. i. 
 4 The
 
 Hi PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 The perch, or the fifh called the variole, was nelc! 
 in great veneration at Latopolis j the carp at Lepi- 
 doturri, a town of Thebais; the pike at Oxyrinchusj 
 the fea-bream, or reddifh-fparus, at Syene ; and the 
 meotis in the ifland Elephantis : but the charac- 
 teriftics of the latter are not known, any more than 
 thofe of the phyfa, which feems to have anfwered 
 likewife fome fiiperflitious purpofes. The Greeks^ 
 however, were greatly miftaken, when they considered 
 the eel, becaufe not eaten by the Egyptians, as be- 
 longing to the facred fifhes : many things prohibited! 
 by the dietetic regimen mufl not be counted among 
 the number of fetiches ; but worfnip was certainly 
 'paid to ferpents at Metellis, in Lower Egypt-, and pro- 
 bably at Terenuthis. All the temples contained, in- 
 deed, different kinds of reptiles, the moiT: remarkable 
 of which was the horned adder, revered in fome 
 parts of Thebais ; and, according to all appearances, 
 in the ifland of Elephantis, as well as at a little town 
 called Gnuphis, fituated towards the twenty-fifth 
 degree. 
 
 The hillory of the facred plants of Egypt has al- 
 ways been very obfcure ; and we only know that 
 great veneration was teftified there for the nymphea,- 
 the poppy, the olyra, the papyrus, the fquill, the 
 abfynth of Tapoforis ; arid, as \ r ePiling fays, wild 
 muftard. To thefe were added, the perfca, different 
 kinds of palm-trees, and the acacia, which probably 
 gave rife to what is faid in the hiftory of Barlaom,- 
 relative to a worflup rendered by the Egyptians 
 
 to
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. TTJ 
 
 to thorns *. This pretended devotion extended pro- 
 bably Ho further than to adding fome branches of 
 acafia, when the firft fruits of the earth were carried 
 in proceffion : nothing of that kind was feen in the 
 interior of the temples, where ftatues, or human 
 figures, were very rare ; and little elfe was feen than 
 fome animals, a few vafes filled with the water of the 
 Nile, and lamps never permitted to burn out. By 
 means of the perpetual light in the temple of Jupiter 
 Ammon, feveral attempts were made to afeertain the 
 duration of fome celeflial revolutions ; but, as the 
 ancients themfelves perceived, they could never pro- 
 duce any advantage. 
 
 Such is the enumeration of the fetiches, among 
 , which the Egyptians fought all kinds of fimilitudes 
 with the ftars, the moon, the fun, and the attributes 
 of the Divinity : their objects conftituted, in general, 
 the fymbolical worfhip, fo improperly confounded 
 with idolatry. The Indians, likewife, were confider d 
 in Europe as idolaters, while we had to depend en- 
 tirely on the affertions of miffionaries and travellers; 
 but their books, when tranflated, proved how much 
 they had been mifreprefented^ We do not pretend 
 here to fpeak of the populace of India, for they, like 
 the common people of Egypt, went aftonimingly 
 ' ailray; but if ever fanaticifm was its own punimment,, 
 it mufl be in the cafe of the Hindoos : they fubmit 
 
 * JEgypiii coluerunt catt 'urn , et canem, el lupum, et Jimiam, et draco- 
 tiem, et affldem. Alii eepas, et allia, etfpinas* Ad calcem Oper. 
 Damas. 
 
 VOL. If. I tQ
 
 114- PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 to the moil rigid forts of penance ; but the fevered 
 of all, according to their own confeffion, is the per- 
 formance of a pilgrimage to the pagoda of the Great 
 Lama, where they can arrive only by traverfmg, 
 during thirteen or fourteen months, the mod fright- 
 ful deferts, at the mercy of the Tartars and beafts of 
 prey ; thofe, who are more devout than the reft, con- 
 tinue their journey into Siberia, to vifit the kutuktus, 
 or particular bilhops ; and thus fuch wretches are 
 found carrying their provifions on their backs from 
 Calicut to Selinginfkoi, in the fiftieth degree of 
 north latitude. Until more information is acquired, 
 relative to the motives of thefe prodigious journies, it 
 will be difficult to perfuade me that the religion of 
 Hindoftan is not derived from that of the Lamas. 
 
 However warm climates in general may tend to 
 affect the human heart with fuperflition, yet that in- 
 fluence is peculiarly remarkable in Egypt : the priefts 
 do not feem to have had any interefl to increafe the 
 psrverfe genius of the fanatics ; becaufe they poffeffed 
 a fixed revenue from lands, which were ceded to farm- 
 ers at a very trifling rent, and confequently not 
 fubjecl: to variation. From this were deducted the 
 fums neceflary for repairing the temples, procuring 
 victims, and defraying all the expences of facrifice. 
 They mould not, therefore, be compared with thofc 
 infamous vagabonds in Italy, who, borrowing their 
 name and character, begged in the ftreets of Rome, 
 from the fecond hour of the day to the eighth, when 
 they returned to faut the temple of Ifis. Such con- 
 duct
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 115 
 
 duft would not have been permitted in Egypt among 
 the vileil clafs of men, much lefs among the prieftsj 
 for no beggars were tolerated by the law. 
 
 When the members of the facerdotal order enjoy 
 a certain income, and are prohibited from begging, 
 they mufl furely be interefted in maintaining the 
 eftablilhed religion, whatever it may be : But no 
 inducements remain for introducing new fuperfti- 
 tions, which mufl appear to them as more dan- 
 gerous than ufeful. 
 
 The partition of lands in Egypt has always been 
 confidered as an effential defect in its political confti- 
 tution. Diodorus pretends, that one third part, 
 amounting to fix hundred and fifty fquare leagues, 
 was in pofleffion of the facerdotal clafs ; and as an 
 equal portion belonged to the military, and another 
 to the fovereign, none remained for the people. Yet 
 this ftatement could not have been exaftj for the 
 conquerors, called the fhepherd kings, forced the 
 people to give up their lands ; and we know that 
 they were afterwards reftored on the expulfion of 
 thofe banditti. 
 
 No dependance can be placed on the opinions of 
 Herodotus and Diodorus, with regard to the real 
 principles of the government of Egypt. The con- 
 ftitution had been certainly changed ever fmce the 
 days of Sethon, who fpread fo much confufion round 
 the throne, that no medium could be found between 
 extreme liberty and exceffive flavery. As all mo 
 narchial ftates have fome degree of fplendor under 
 their firft defpots, before they fink into eternal obi 
 
 i a fcurityj
 
 ii6 PHILOSOPHICAL .DISSERTATIONS 
 
 fcurity ; in the fame manner did Egypt appear bril- 
 liant for an inftant before its fall. 
 
 Mr. Schegel, known by his learned Commentary 
 on the work of the Abbe Banier, fuppofes that each 
 Egyptian prieft poffefled only twelve arourse, which 
 do not amount to the fame number of acres. Were 
 our modern bifhops and rulers of monks reduced to 
 the fame quota, fo far from riding in their carriages, 
 they would fcarcely be able to purchafe moes. Some 
 authors, like Pierius, have fuppofed that the laws of 
 Egypt did not permit the facerdotal clafs to keep 
 horfes ; and the regulation of Mofes might perhaps 
 refer to that particular difpofition : but many of the 
 learned are of opinion, that it related only to the 
 climate of Paleftine, which was peculiarly unfa- 
 vorable to thofe quadrupeds. At all events, as his 
 intention was evidently to change a race of fhepherds 
 into hufbandmen, he acted wifely in prohibiting 
 horfes ; and indeed a more effectual plan could not 
 be devifed for reforming the morals of the Bedouin 
 Arabs, whofe high-bred mares are to them what mips 
 are to the Algerines. 
 
 It muft be acknowledged, that we are at a lofs to 
 determine the real divifion of lands in Egypt. By 
 making each portion in the facerdotal order amount 
 to twelve aroura?, the fame inconvenience arifes as 
 in the military diftribution, where, according to He- 
 rodotus, the quota of the general was not greater 
 than that of the private foldier ; and this can never 
 be credited. The fovereign, or the flate, had to pay 
 a certain fum in money or grain to thofe prielts who 
 
 were
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 117 
 
 were fent to Thebes for the adminiftration of juftice. 
 From this we may infer that the produce of their 
 lands was not very confiderable, particularly for mar- 
 ried men; and no others, it appears, were ever admit- 
 ted to the exercife of public functions. In this, at leaft, 
 a few traces are feen of what fome have affeded to 
 call the wifdom of the Egyptians. Their priefts, be- 
 fides being magistrates, had the infpeclion of the 
 laws, archives, hiftorical records, public education, 
 compofition of almanacks, aflronomical obfervations, 
 furveying of lands, meafurement of the Nile, and, 
 finally, every thing belonging to medicine, falubrity 
 of the air, and embalming. Thus, including their 
 wives and children, they amounted perhaps to one 
 feventh part of the nation. Very erroneous ideas, 
 concerning that body of men, are formed by thofe 
 who compare them to the clergy of any country in 
 Europe, where feven or eight convents of monks 
 fometimes poflefs more revenues than the whole fa- 
 cerdotal order of Egypt. Yet the latter performed 
 continual labors ; and being fubdivided into different 
 clafles, each had particular occupations. The firft 
 comprehended the prophets, who prefided at the tri- 
 bunal, where their decifion was given without fpeak- 
 ing, merely by turning the image of Truth to one or 
 other of the parties. If the reprefentation of a fu- 
 perb monument of Thebais, inferted in Mr. Pocock's 
 Travels, can be regarded as exaft, the judge held that 
 image fufpended at the end of a kind of fceptre, 
 and not hanging to his neck, as is commonly fup- 
 pofed, 
 
 i 3 The
 
 H8 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 The ancient Greeks had fallen into egregious er- 
 rors, with regard to the fignification of the word 
 frophet, although it originated in their own language ; 
 and Plato took fome pains to adjuil their ideas. 
 Thofe, fays he, are truly ignorant, who imagine 
 that the prophet predicts future events ; for that be- 
 longs, continues he, to the mantis alone, and he is 
 always a fool, a madman, or a maniac. From this 
 it refults, as Plato obferves, that the prophet was 
 nothing more than the interpreter of the prediction, 
 and could not be the author; becaufe it was requifite 
 for him to be in his proper fenfes, which was irre- 
 concileable with the fpirit of prophecy. Thus the 
 miferable being, qualified with the name of mantis^ 
 like the Pythia of Delphi, was nothing more than 
 the inflrument of fuperflition ; for all depended on 
 thofe who interpreted the oracle. If we read, that 
 the Pythia fometimes received money to give favor- 
 able anfwers to one town in preference to another, it 
 muft not be believed that me alone was bribed, but 
 all the troop of fycophants attached to the oracle of 
 Delphi. 
 
 With regard to the Egyptians, Clemens of Alex- 
 andria points out pofitively what were the functions 
 of their prophets. It was neceffary for them to be 
 well verfed in jurifprudence, and to know exactly the 
 whole collection of laws human and divine, inferted 
 iu the ten firft canonical books, which were fuppofed 
 to contain every thing relative to religion. Thus the 
 prophets were not remarkable for being learned in 
 profane fcience ; while the facred fcribes, or hiero- 
 
 grammatids,
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 119 
 
 grammatifts, from applying themfelves to the fludy 
 of hiflory and natural philofophy, attracted great 
 confideration, and were ranked before the aflrono- 
 mers and geometricians, or arpedonaptes, who ne- 
 verthelefs belonged to the firft clafs, as well as the 
 hieroiloliftes *. 
 
 After thefe came the comaftes, who prefided at 
 public feafts, the zacores, niocores, and the pafa- 
 phores, who took care of the temples, and ornamented 
 the altars, the fingers, fpragiftes, phyficians, embalm- 
 ers, and finally, the interpreters. The latter appear to 
 have been the only people capable of fpeaking a little 
 Greek ; for the other priefts knew nothing but the 
 Egyptian language, which differed very little from 
 that of Ethiopia. During the conqueft of the fhep- 
 herd kings, it was found impoffible for thofe who 
 fpoke only Arabic, or the Phenician language, to 
 make themfelves underftood by the Egyptians. This 
 - obfervation, as well as many others, tends, to prove 
 the error of thofe who imagine Egypt to have been 
 peopled by Arabs, who had paffed the ftrait of Bab- 
 el-Mandel. In that cafe, inftead of being fo very 
 different, the Egyptian language muft have remained 
 a dialect of the Arabic. 
 
 With regard to certain monks called Sanfes and 
 Renobofes, faid to have lived in Egypt many centuries 
 
 * Aulus Gellius, and Macrobius, attribute great ikill in ana- 
 tomy to the Egyptians. They pretend that their priefts of the 
 firft clafs were confecrated by rubbing balm on the ring-finger cf 
 the left hand, the vein of xvhich they believed came dire&ly 
 from the heart. 
 
 i 4 before
 
 S 2S PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 before the exiftence of Chriftiam'ty, and even prior 
 to the invafion of Cambyfes, we may venture to afiert, 
 that the whole is a fidlion ; becaufe no fuch drones 
 arr mentioned by any of the Greek authors, who 
 ever wrote concerning Egypt. Neither can we fup- 
 pofe, that a clafs of men could have remained in 
 that country, who, belonging neither to the clergy, 
 the military, nor the people, muft have been more 
 expenfive than alt the other facred animals together. 
 It was in the time of confufion occafioned by the 
 de%otifm of the Roman emperors, that Egypt firft 
 became a prey to legions of cenobites ; and that 
 plague alone proved more fatal than all thofe re~ 
 corded in the annals of the Jews *, 
 
 Although Mr. Schmidt has publifhed a very learned 
 Diflertation on the priefts of Egypt, it muft be re- 
 marked, that an eflential particularity, forming one 
 of their exterior chara&eriftics, has efcaped his at- 
 tention. They carried, in the fame manner as the 
 kings, a fceptre exactly in the form of a plough f . 
 This cuftom feems to have been taken from the an- 
 cient gymnofophifts of Ethiopia, who aiTerted, that 
 the firft alimentary grain was found near the ca- 
 taracts of the Nile ; and it is faid that a fpecies of 
 
 * The f rfl Chriilian monks of Egypt were called, in the Ian 
 guag - -y, Sarabait, which fignifies people difobedient 
 
 to tlu >, according to the interpretation of Bochart. The 
 
 word Remobotct is perhaps a corruption of Remoites, which feems 
 likewife to denote factious people. 
 
 f Sacer dotes JEgyptiorum et JEth'wpum gerunt fceptrum informant 
 aratn faSuniy quo reges etlam utuntur. Diod. Sicnl, lib. iv. 
 
 wild
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. m 
 
 v?ild fpelt really grows in that neighbourhood. The 
 learned have had opportunities of feeing frequently the 
 aratriformed fceptre of the kings and priefts of Egypt 
 on different monuments, and even in the hands of the 
 mummies, without knowing it to be fuch. Mr. 
 Cleyton makes it an inftrument altogether ridicu- 
 lous *, and Father Kircher, the moft unfortunate of 
 men in his conjectures on hieroglyphics, fuppofes it 
 to be an alpha. Indeed the Theban plough has 
 fome little refemblance to the letter A ; but he mould 
 have perceived that this was not the firft of the 
 Egyptian characters ; for we know that they began 
 by the thoth, in honor of the genius who prefided 
 over fciences. Thefe fceptres, in the form of a 
 plough, are much lefs difgufting than the long nails 
 of the Chinefe ; and it might appear extraordinary 
 that the Egyptians mould have taken from an inftru- 
 ment of that kind the chief emblem of royalty and 
 priefthood, were we not allured of the great refpedt 
 they always preferved for agriculture. Even their 
 gods are reprefented cultivating the earth, and toil- 
 ing in the fields, according to that allegorical ftyle 
 which has been the fource of fo many fables ; and 
 thus Ofiris was faid to have conftru&ed his own 
 plough, and opened the firft furrow f, 
 
 Egypt contained four choniathim, or celebrated 
 colleges : that of Thebes, where Pythagoras ftudied; 
 
 * Journal from Grand Cairo, written by the Prefetto of Egypt. 
 j- Primus aratra manu folert't fecit 0/iris, 
 
 Et tsnet-am ferro folicitavU humum. Tibullus, lib. i. 
 
 that
 
 12* PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 that of Memphis, where Orpheus, Thales, and Demo- 
 critus are faid to have been inftructed; that of Heliopo- 
 lis, frequented by Plato and Eudoxus; and finally that 
 of Sais. The legiilator Solon viiited the laft, mofl pro- 
 bably with the hope of difcovering fome memoirs 
 relative to the town of Athens, which pafied among 
 the Greeks for a colony founded by the Saites. As 
 this college was lefs ancient than the reft, it had not 
 the right of fending deputies to the great council of 
 the nation at Thebes, where ten members from each 
 of the other three, formed the tribunal of thirty, 
 prefided by a prophet, to whom hiftorians have given 
 the title of Archidicaftes. 
 
 It is difficult to fay in what manner the Greeks, 
 who fojourned in Egypt, pafled their time. Plato 
 feems to have tranfacled commercial affairs; and they, 
 in my opinion, interefted him more than the ftudy 
 of the fciences, or the hiflory of the Egyptians, 
 concerning which he has given us fcarcely any inform- 
 ation, although he refided thirteen years at Heli- 
 opolis and Memphis. Yet the continental voyages 
 of the Greek philofophers and poets have contri- 
 buted more than any thing elfe to illuftrate the hiftory 
 of that region. Without their aid, and the annals 
 of the Jews, we could have known little of a coun- 
 try, where all the monuments are dumb, and not 
 a fmgle volume remains of the whole library of 
 Thebes. 
 
 What Eufebius relates of a college at Alexandria, 
 compofed of priefts who were all hermaphrodites, 
 
 muft
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. Ji3 
 
 muft be confidered as entirely fabulous *. On the con- 
 trary, no perfon, who was born with any remarkable 
 bodily imperfection, could be confecrated in Egypt ; 
 and the very animals, when deformed, were never ufed 
 either for facrifice, or in fymbolical worfhip. Eufe- 
 bius, pretending to praife Conftantine, places boldly 
 among his greatefl actions the order given by him for 
 flaughtering without mercy all thofe pretended her- 
 maphrodites of Alexandria. Could this account be 
 credited, it muft increafe our deteftation of a mon- 
 fler who mould have been long before tired with 
 afiafiination. Nothing could be more abfurd and 
 cruel than to inflict death on women, who were un- 
 fortunately condemned by nature to a deformity not 
 uncommon in Egypt ; and, fortunately, we find no 
 other ecclefiaflical writer bearing teflimony to this 
 pretended murder. Conftantine, however, acted 
 with very little policy, in removing the portative 
 Nilometer from the place where it was generally 
 kept ; and this inflamed ftill more the minds of the 
 people, becaufe they perceived that he acted in tri- 
 fling matters from inftigation. Whether that inftru- 
 ment remained in the temple of Serapis, or in a 
 Chriftian chapel, did not affect in the leaft the over- 
 flowing of the Nile ; but his conduct violated ex- 
 tremely thofe ancient ufages, which fome nations 
 confider as their chief riches. 
 
 * In Vit. Conftant. lib. iv. c. 25. The Greeks of Alexandria 
 profefied a worlhip very different from the ancient religion of 
 Egypt. 
 
 Conring
 
 st + PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 Coming has been more zealous than any other 
 modern writer in combating the phantom of Egyp- 
 tian wifdom. After reducing all the pretended phi- 
 lofophy of that country to a collection of grofs opi- 
 nions, he accufes the very phyficians of holding a 
 conftant intercourfe with demons, and of being ut- 
 terly incapable of curing any diforder *. From this 
 we may judge that Conring was not the greateft phi- 
 lofopher of his age ; and by writing fuch palpable 
 abfurdities, he difgraced his own judgment more 
 than the reputation of the Egyptians, who had be- 
 fides to fuffer the unjufl imputation of atheifm. This 
 muft be the cafe, it was faid, becaufe they give two 
 fexes to each element, and conclude by their great 
 maxim, that God is all. But in fact they never pre- 
 tended that the elements could produce by their own 
 inherent power alone. On reading attentively what 
 the naturalift Seneca fays on this diftinction, we per- 
 ceive that it was merely a vulgar method of expreff- 
 ing the difference between fire and light ; between 
 vegetable and mineral fubftances ; between air in a 
 calm and in an agitated ftate; between frefh and 
 fait water f . However ridiculous this may appear at 
 the prefent day, it was far from being fuch in thofe 
 
 * De Hermetica Medicina, cap. x. & xi. 
 
 f- JEgyptU quatuor ekmentafecere : delude exjingulis Una, marem et 
 fatminam. Slerem marem jtuKcant, qua venetus eft: famitiam, qua nelulofist 
 & men. Aquttm virilem vacant mare ; muliebrem,omnem aliam. Igncm 
 vacant mafculum, qua ardct Jlamma y tf ftzminam qua lucet Innoxlus 
 tadu. Terrain fortlorem t marem vacant, faxa cautefque ; fceminf 
 nomen ajignant huic traSablJi ad culturam. Seneca, Nat. Quaeft. 
 lib. Jii. cap. i^. 
 
 diilant
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. u 5 
 
 dlflant times, when natural philofophy, like a child 
 beginning to walk, made its firft efforts to leave the 
 cradle. The Egyptians thought to have done a great 
 deal by perceiving that nature poffeffes four element- 
 ary fubftances. Their ideas on this point were infi- 
 nitely more rational than thofe of the Chinefe, who 
 extend the number of elements to five, although 
 they exclude the air ; and as their imagination is 
 heated, they pretend that their hing, or elements, 
 are animated by five genii, who produce fucceffively 
 a dynafty of Chinefe emperors. Thence, fays Vif- 
 delou, proceeds that formula fo common in their 
 books : Such a dynajly reigned by the virtue of wood ; 
 fuch another by that cf metal, earth, fire, or water. 
 The yellow color would make us fuppofe that the 
 Tartars are now confidered as belonging to the earth; 
 but Vifdelou allures us, that their dynafty is believed 
 to be produced by the genius of water. From this 
 we may conclude, that the Chinefe are the greateft 
 metaphyficians in the world. 
 
 The axiom, God is all, has in itfelf no precife 
 meaning ; but, depending on interpretation, may 
 be explained in very oppofite fenfes. It feems there- 
 fore to be very improperly introduced as proving the 
 atheifm of the Egyptians. Yet all the efforts of 
 Cudworth to juftify them, although the cafe was not 
 difficult, failed entirely, becaufe he confided too 
 much in thofe apocryphal works, known by the 
 title of Hermetic Books, which are the confufed 
 and defpicable forgeries of fome Chriftians. After- 
 wards he applies to the authority of Jamblichus, who, 
 
 if
 
 iz6 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 if he even had not been a fool or a vifionary, could 
 never be fuppofed to poffefs any knowledge of the 
 Egyptian doctrine relative to the eflence of the I)i- 
 vinity, when he mentions Ofiris as one of the three 
 chief gods, as Cudworth himfelf acknowledges *. 
 This blunder enervated the force of all his other 
 proofs; for Ofiris, fo far from being in the firfl rank 
 of the gods, did not belong even to the fecond. 
 
 As VVarbuiton believed that the unity of God 
 was announced in the celebration of the myfteries 
 originally inftituted among the Egyptians, it refulted 
 of courfe, that they could not be atheifls. Thefe 
 myfteries became afterwards a branch of finance for 
 the republic of Athens, where the admiffion was 
 fo very expenfive, that Apulaeus rallies Lucius with 
 having frequented fuch ceremonies, until he had re- 
 duced himfelf to his only robe ; and ihe priefls ad- 
 vifed him to part with that likewife, to be initiated 
 anew -f. This demonflrates that the work of Apu- 
 la^us, fuppofed by Warburton to be an excellent apo- 
 
 * Cudworth, Syft. Intellec. cap. v. Jambilchus de Myft. 
 vEgyptiorum, fe&. via. 
 
 f Poftremo juffusy vejle ipfa mca, quamvis parvula dtftrata, fvffici* 
 en fern corrafi fummulam, et Idipfum pr ceptum fue rat fpecialite r. Met, 
 lib.xi. This alludes to the myfteries of Ofiris, celebrated at Rome. 
 It is aftonifhing that Warburton fhotild have made fo little difficulty 
 of believing that on thofc occafions even women and children 
 were told that Jupiter Capitolinus was nothing n-.ore than a dei- 
 fied man, unworthy of their incenfe and victims. It is certain 
 that the Jupiter Optimus Maximum was not by any means a 
 deified man. 
 
 logy
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. iz 7 
 
 logy for the myfteries, was, on the contrary, a fevere 
 fatire on thofe vagabonds, who pafled themfelves for 
 Egyptians in Greece and Italy, where they were call- 
 ed ironically the terreftrial ftars of the great reli- 
 gion, Thofe villains employed every kind of in- 
 trigue and profanation to obtain money from the de- 
 vout, and they frequently fucceeded in depriving 
 them of their very clothes. Such was their extreme 
 artifice, that they infpired the hearts of the common 
 people with fanaticifm, at the fame time that they 
 favored all their debaucheries. 
 
 It is no longer doubted that the Greek hierophants 
 introduced by degrees great changes into the do&rine 
 of the myfteries of Eleufmian Ceres. If it be true 
 that, in the time of Cicero, they announced fecretly 
 all the gods of Paganifm as deified men, they were 
 greatly miftakeji. But even fuppofmg that this error 
 was really inculcated among the Greeks, it did not in 
 any way concern the true Egyptians, who never went 
 to Athens to confult the hierophants concerning any 
 point of their religion, the doctrine of which we fhall 
 now endeavour to explain. The attributes of the 
 Divinity feem indeed to have been perfonified with 
 them, but in a very different fenfe from that of the 
 Indians, who attach themfelves folely to the power 
 of creating, preferving, and deilroying, reprefented 
 in the allegorical ftyle by three diflinct perfons. 
 
 The Egyptians acknowledged an intelligent Being 
 feparate from matter, whom they called Phtba : this 
 was the founder of the univerfe ; the living God, 
 whofe wifdom perfonified had the name Ntitb, and 
 
 the
 
 nS PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 the appearance of a woman ifluing from the body of* 
 a lion. Thus the Grecian mythology defcribed Mi- 
 nerva as the offspring of the brain of Jupiter ; and 
 little doubt now remains concerning the allegorical 
 identity of Neith and Minerva. It is not neceffary 
 here to be very prolix in proving that the fphinx, 
 the real fymbol of the Divinity, never could have 
 any reference to the overflowing of the Nile under 
 the zodiacal figns of the lion and the virgin. Inde* 
 pendently of many other reafons, it is evident that, 
 in very remote times, the increafe of the Nile did 
 not take place under thofe two figns, even admitting 
 them to be known to the Egyptians, which is far 
 from being demonflrated. The zodiac, fuch as it 
 now appears, is retouched and reformed by the 
 Greeks, although fufficient (races of its origin re- 
 main, to prove that it was invented by the Egyptians* 
 They marked that circle with twelve fections, and 
 each of thefe being again divided into three, the 
 whole fubdivifion amounted to fix-and-thirty. The 
 zodiac of the Chinefe, called the yellow band, has 
 always confuted of twenty-four equal fecUons j and 
 as each of thefe is likewife fubdivided into three, a 
 totality is produced of two-and-feventy. 
 
 The doctrine of the Egyptians with regard toNeitht 
 or divine wifdom, may be fuppofed nearly the fame 
 with that contained in the Hebrew parables attributed 
 to Solomon, who had married a woman of Egypt, 
 where many perfons of the female fex had names de- 
 rived from Neith, in the fame manner that Sophia 
 was introduced afterwards. 
 
 Divine
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 1*9 
 
 Divine goodnefs was the laft attribute of the Su- 
 preme Being, perfonified among the Egyptians by 
 the name of Cnuph *, a word famous in the Abraxes. 
 Thus we find this do&rine very different from that 
 of the Indians, with whom the Egyptians had only 
 fome exterior refemblance, which vanimes in a great 
 meafure, when fubmitted to particular examination. 
 But they differ in every thing from the Chinefe, who 
 have peopled nature with genii, without eftablifhing 
 among them a proper degree of fubordination. What 
 has been mentioned here is fufficient to prove the 
 illufion of Mr. Jablonfki, when he pretended that 
 the whole Egyptian theology was founded on the 
 fame hypothefis advanced by Spinofa, who, he fan- 
 cies, muft have read the Hieroglyphics of Orus 
 Apollo. But furely nothing could be found there 
 favorable to his principles ; for that Egyptian, born 
 at Phlcenebyth in the Panopolitan prefe&ory, never 
 fpeaks of the Divinity but as a Being diftincl: from 
 matter. Yet, unwilling to truft to my own judg- 
 ment, where the accufation was fo weighty, and the 
 fubjed very obfcure, I confulted on this point, as 
 well as on many others, my ancient and much-efteem- 
 ed friend Mr. Heiming, canon of Cleves. That man, 
 whofe whole life has been dedicated to ftudy, and 
 who to great genius joins an amazing knowledge in 
 
 * Jamblichus has corrupted this word greatly, and Plutarch 
 writes it Cneph, which has fince been generally adopted. The 
 Atbor of the Egyptians fignified chaos in one fenfe, and in 
 another the incomprehenfibility of God, and his ftate prior to 
 creation. 
 
 VOL. ij. K all
 
 1 3 o PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 all parts of the fciences, was of opinion that nothing 
 tends to prove that the ancient Egyptians were even 
 inclined to atheifm. We do not fpeak here of the 
 common people, who in no country of the world 
 ever adopted fuch fyftems ; becaufe they are connect- 
 ed with a kind of metaphyfics exceedingly compli- 
 cated, and deflru&ive of all found philofophy. Yet 
 we do not pretend to infmuate, that the Egyptians 
 did not fall into monftrous fuperftitions and errors ; 
 for even their very princes were filly enough to be- 
 lieve, fometimes, that they really beheld the gods *. 
 Apparitions of that kind may proceed from a natural 
 phenomenon, not unfrequent in any country, except 
 perhaps under the frozen zone, and confiding in a 
 falfe dream fome inftants before the real deep begins. 
 Perfons in good health, whofe minds are tranquil, 
 and particularly children of both fexes, believe then 
 to perceive heads generally without bodies, which 
 move lightly from one place to another. Perhaps no 
 naturalifl or phyfician has ever examined why thofe 
 images, preceding fleep for a few moments, always 
 reprefent heads either of human beings, or fometimes 
 of large animals. This may, perhaps, be occafioned 
 by the relaxation of the vital fpirits, when they be- 
 gin to calm in the folds and meanders of the brain. 
 The more ardent fanatics of Egypt might have taken 
 
 * Hiftory mentions two Egyptian kings, Orus and Svpkit, who 
 affected to contemplate the gods. The lail of thefe is fuppofed cr- 
 roneoufly to have been the author of a book called the He ly Amber: 
 that production related to judiciary aftrology, which was much in 
 vogue among the Egyptians. 
 
 this
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 731 
 
 this falfe dream foi the apparition of fome genius, 
 efpecially as it preferved conftantly the fame form. 
 At this day, the Turkifli monks, and certain Arabs 
 of that country, have invented a method of pro- 
 curing vifions. They begin by very long faftmgs, 
 and afterwards pray aloud in fome cavern or obfcure 
 place, until their ftrength is entirely exhaufted. 
 Thus a fyncope is produced, during which they ima- 
 gine that fire iffues from their eyes, and many phan- 
 toms, either agreeable or difagreeable, dance before 
 them. We can no longer doubt but this method was 
 pradifed by the Chriftian monks of Ireland on thofe 
 whom they conducted into a cave called the Purga- 
 tory of Saint Patrick ; and Mr. Sinner was wrong in 
 fuppofing, that it had any refemblance to the myfle- 
 lies of Eleufmian Ceres *. Hunger principally caufes 
 the delirium of thofe unfortunate wretches, fome of 
 whom never recover ; and yet we cannot lament their 
 fate. 
 
 The diverfity of the facred animals of Egypt has 
 made fome ignorant authors of the prefent day fup- 
 pofe, that the fundamental principles of religion \vere 
 not the fame in the different provinces. But it is 
 eafy to perceive, that the fymbolical worfhip was 
 only fecondary ; and that all the animals were con- 
 fecrated to the fame divinities, afterwards introduced 
 among the Greeks and Romans. Yet no perfon 
 could think of aflerting, that religion varied in dif- 
 
 * Eflay on the Dogma of the Metcmpfychoiis, and of Pur- 
 
 K ferent
 
 jjx PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 ferent quarters of Rome, or of Athens, becaufe he 
 faw there the temples of Vulcan, of Jupiter, Miner- 
 va, and Apollo, to whom the wolf was particularly 
 confecrated by the Egyptians*. That animal, how- 
 ever, was not more adored in the Lycopolitan pre- 
 fectory, than the fcreech-owl at Athens, the eagle at 
 Rome, the weafel at Thebes, or the moufe in Troas. 
 It might more juflly have been afferted, that the 
 four great colleges of Egypt did not always agree on 
 feveral points of hiflory, natural philofophy, and 
 aftronomy : that indeed appears well afcertained, 
 and from it proceeded thofe contradictions fo mani- 
 feft in all the fyflems attributed to them by the 
 moderns. Pythagoras, who ftudied at Thebes, feems 
 to have imbibed two opinions compofing a part 
 of his fecret do&rine. He maintained, in the firfl 
 place, that the earth was a ftar, or planet ; and, fe- 
 condly, that it moved round the fun : both which 
 opinions were afterwards taught by his difciple Phi- 
 lolaus. Another hypothecs, differing little from that 
 of Tycho-Brahe, had its partifans likewife in Egypt. 
 According to it, the earth was immoveable ; but 
 Venus and Mercury were faid to turn round the fun; 
 as we learn from the commentaries of Macrobius on 
 the Dream of Scipio. Although thofe two fyftems 
 feem fomewhat contradictory, it is poffible that 
 they were admitted by different colleges at the fame 
 time. Thus all the difficulty is diffipated, and mat- 
 ters are reduced to this, that as every perfon had the 
 
 * Macrob. lib. i. cap. 17. 
 
 right
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 133 
 
 right of thinking as he pleafed at Thebes, the fame 
 liberty was claimed at Heliopolis, Sais, and Mem- 
 phis. If it be afked again, why Ptolemy rejected the 
 movement of Venus and Mercury round the fun, in 
 oppofition to the authority of the priefls of Egypt ; 
 we mail only beg to know, why Tycho-Brahe did not 
 adopt the fyftem of Copernicus. The ideas of man 
 are frequently inexplicable : he fees the light, and 
 directs his fteps towards darknefs. 
 
 Seneca fuppofes, without the flighted proof, that 
 Eudoxus and Conon, during their flay in Egypt, had 
 made inquiries into the fentiments of the colleges re- 
 lative to the nature and theory of comets, without 
 being able to difcover any thing. In the firft place, 
 it is very poflible that Eudoxus and Conon never 
 once thought of fuch matters j but fuppofing them 
 even zealous in their refearches, they would proba- 
 bly have found opinions very much divided. Yet 
 the principal points of cofmography were univer- 
 fally admitted, and the Egyptians did not difpute on 
 the caufe of eclipfes, which they attributed to a 
 fhade, nor on the form of the earth, believed by 
 them to be round*. If ever any communication 
 had been open between that country and China, the 
 pretended learned in the latter would not have been 
 found, at the arrival of the Jefuits, making the earth 
 fquare, and difcovering fo great ignorance of the 
 caufe of eclipfes. They imagined in the firmament, 
 fays Father Kircher, fome genius who placed at times 
 
 * Diogen. Laer. in Proem, 
 
 K 3 his
 
 1 34. PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 his right hand on the fun, and his left on the moon *. 
 Then the drums and kettles were heard beating on 
 every fide ; the mofl timorous concealed themfelve-- 
 in cellars ; and the emperors frequently trembled on 
 their throne. 
 
 It is eafy to believe that, in Egypt, philofophical 
 opinions never troubled public tranquillity, nor agi- 
 tated the Hate ; and we have mewn likewife, that the 
 diverfity of animals, confecrated to the gods, never 
 occafioned any difputes between the different pro- 
 vinces, as long as that country remained under its 
 own civil inflitutions. But when conquerors intro- 
 duced new laws, and a police altogether defective, 
 then indeed both hatred and jealoufy began to ap- 
 pear, and the factions of the towns were dreadful. 
 Warburton aflures us, that hiilory affords only one 
 inflance of that kind ; but by a little examination he 
 would have found at leaft four examples, without in- 
 cluding the riot occafioned by that Roman, who had 
 killed a cat, and committed mofl probably fome 
 other excefies againft the eflablifhed cuftoms of the 
 country. This was highly refented by the Egyptians, 
 \vho always willingly riiked their lives to obtain ven- 
 geance, and were remarkable for a fmgular obflinacy 
 in fupporting torture with patience j-. The greateft 
 torments frequently proved ineffectual in making 
 them reveal a fecret, or pay the tribute required by 
 
 * China Illuftrata. 
 
 1" JEgyptios iiiiintfi. fcrre tormenta -. & clt'ins men l:oml- 
 
 fiem JEgyptlum in quafiiotubiu tor! urn, animal unique veritaU'in prcihrc. 
 -^Elian. Hift. Diverf. lib. vi. Ammianus Murcellinus, iib.xxii. 
 
 2 the
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. I3S 
 
 the Romans, to whom they did not confider them- 
 felves at all indebted. Yet that obftinacy was ex- 
 tremely different from true courage, and dill more, 
 if poflible, from what is called heroifm. 
 
 Warburton maintains likewife, that the combat of 
 the Tentyrites and the pretended Ombites was not 
 the effecl: of religious difputes. It did not indeed 
 referable the religious wars in France and England, 
 becaufe only one man was ilain : but yet we difcover 
 the fame fanaticifm, excited through interefted 
 views, not difficult to be detected, however appa- 
 rently involved in darknefs. 
 
 The difputes between the Cynopolitans and Oxy- 
 rinchites concerning their dogs and pikes, termi- 
 mated in open war. The Romans, who had then 
 many regular troops in Egypt, might eafily have pre- 
 vented thofe unfortunate people from proceeding to 
 extremities. But they were allowed to fight, and 
 v, hen weakened by mutual loffes, they received fuch 
 cruel chaftifements, that nothing feemed to them 
 more defirable than peace. When we fuppofe that 
 interefted motives were probably concealed then un- 
 der an exterior of religious zeal, it mould be ob- 
 ferved, that this opinion is fupported by the tefti- 
 mony of Mr. Pocock, and other modern travellers, 
 concerning the frequent combats of the Arabs, who 
 now inhabit both banks of the Nile. Such riots 
 among thofe Mahometans were never occafioned by 
 the facred animals, any more than the quarrels of 
 the ancient Egyptians. Even in Europe, we find fre- 
 quent enmities fubfifting between towns fituated nrr.r 
 each other on oppofite banks of the fame river: 
 
 K 4 they
 
 IjS PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 they cannot poflibly be alike flouriming, and this 
 inequality of fortune and power irritates the minds 
 of the people. It was owing to the evidently cor- 
 rupt text of Juvenal, that the falfe opinion prevailed 
 of the Ombites having fought with the Tentyrites 
 about their crocodiles. Tentyrus andOmbos were about 
 one hundred miles diflant, and therefore not likely to 
 have great interefls to promote under fuch vain pre- 
 texts. The difpute alluded to really took place be- 
 tween the Tentyrites and the inhabitants of Coptos. 
 That town became exceedingly flourifhing, when a 
 way was opened from the centre of Thebais to Bere- 
 nice j for all the productions of India, Arabia, and 
 the coaft of Africa, were brought thither on camel?, 
 and partly forwarded thence in boats to Alexandria. 
 In this pafiage they had to pafs under the walls of 
 the Tentyrites, who had no mare whatever in that 
 commerce, although their fituation muft otherwife 
 have been very profperous, as xve judge from the 
 ruins Mill extant of their magnificent temples. Prior 
 to the reign of rhe Ptolemies, when the Egyptians 
 had no road in Thebais, nor any veflel on the Ara- 
 bian Gulph, it was not poffible to forefee, that 
 Coptos, fo far from the Nile, would one day poflefs 
 the richefl commerce in the univerfe. The unex- 
 pected good fortune of that town excited the jealoufy 
 of the inhabitants of Tentyrus ; and we cannot 
 be furprifed that it produced civil war under the 
 Romans *, 
 
 * Juvenal fays pofitively that this difpute took place between 
 the inhabitants of Tentyrus and Coptos: 
 
 Geflafuper calida referfmus mania Cofti. 
 
 Although
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 137 
 
 Although the capital towns of the Cynopolitans 
 and Oxyrinchites were upwards of twenty miles dif- 
 tant, yet their prefeSories either adjoined, or had 
 no other reparation than the Nile. Cynopolis feems 
 to have pofiefied little cultivated country; while 
 Oxyrinchus was exceedingly flouriming, and its 
 good fortune withflood all the dreadful revolutions 
 of Egypt fmce the days of Cambyfes, until the 
 Chriftian monks at length occafioned its total ruin. 
 It was faid to have contained at one time no lefs than 
 thirty thoufand of both fexes ; but this muft be con. 
 fidered as a grofs exaggeration. The Abbe Fleuri 
 mould have exercifed more criticifm on what he 
 copied from ecclefiaftical writers, and particularly 
 from Ruffin, concerning this dreadful fcourge, which 
 has delblated Egypt ever fmce the third century. By 
 fuppofing that only one fourth of thirty thoufand 
 cenobites inhabited Oxyrinchus, then the metropo- 
 lis of Heptanomis, the number would have been 
 fufficient to depopulate the town, and reduce it to a 
 wretched burgh, now fuppofed to be called Bahnefe. 
 
 The firft monks of Egypt, who replaced the The- 
 rapeutes, and copied many of their obfervances, in- 
 habited the deferts, and labored for their fuflenance. 
 In that fituation they mould have been allowed to 
 remain, inftead of being introduced into towns, 
 where their morals became corrupt, and their beg- 
 ging importunities intolerable. No other means, it 
 would feem, could then be found of efcaping fuch 
 vexations than by turning monk likewife ; and thus 
 the monfler, by confuming its own vitals in propor- 
 tion
 
 , 3 g PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 tion as its fize increafed, could not avoid dedru&ion. 
 Monadic orders are never nearer ruin than when 
 they become numerous j becaufe, like edifices with- 
 out any foundation, although they may efcape a few 
 ihocks, they mull certainly be overturned at laft. 
 
 The Englifh acted wifely by not allowing more 
 than one convent to remain in their whole country : 
 but the Turks, who govern Egypt blindly, feem to 
 rely on the Arabs entirely for extirpating the mo- 
 naileries. It it certain, as Mr. Niebuhr infmuates, 
 In his Defcription of Arabia, that a remarkable an- 
 tipathy fubiifts between the Bedouins and the monks, 
 who are generally very ill treated, when they fall 
 into the hands of thofe enemies. They fuffer fre- 
 quently fuch fieges in their houfes, that they become 
 infected with the leprofy or fcurvy, like failors in 
 long voyages from a fcarcity of vegetables. At this 
 day, about forty convents ftill remain without the 
 walls of the towns in Egypt ; and their number feems 
 to decreafe in the fame proportion with the bimop. 
 rics. The latter, according to an ancient Greek 
 catalogue, once amounted to eighty-two*; but they 
 are now reduced to eleven, exclufive of the Abotina 
 of Abyffinia, and another prelate who refides at Je- 
 rufalem, where his fate is not preferable to that of 
 the other bimops who remain in Egypt. They are 
 in general obfcure men, and fo very poor, that they 
 
 * This catalogue is indeed held very doubtful, becaufe it calls 
 Siena Mandrorum a bifhopric. But that place, as well as others 
 ftill more inconfiderable, really held that rank ; and the greater 
 part of the bifliops of Egypt were only vicars. 
 
 fcarcely
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 139 
 
 fcarcely live ; becaufe the Copts, who do not exceed 
 twenty-five or thirty thoufand families, are incapa- 
 ble of maintaining and clothing them, decently. 
 Thefe fads are fufficient to give fome idea of the 
 manner in which that unfortunate country is go- 
 verned by the Turks. 
 
 It has been already obferved, that the revolt of the 
 Egyptians, who attempted to deftroy the labyrinth, 
 was likewife a religious rage of the mod reprehen- 
 fible kind. But that fanaticifm broke out under the 
 Romans at fome period between the reign of Au- 
 guftus and that of Vefpafian, or Titus. Strabo fpeaks 
 of the labyrinth, as having never received any in- 
 jury ; and Pliny mentions how much it fuffered from 
 thofe who inhabited the town of Hercules and its 
 environs. By this we find, that the event took 
 place later than the voyage of Strabo ; and nothing 
 but the inclination of the Romans was wanting to 
 have prevented that diforder. 
 
 Some authors, too much prejudiced in favor of 
 ancient Egypt, have vainly endeavoured to juflify 
 every thing, however vicious or abfurd, appertain, 
 ing to the worfhip of that country, which was the 
 mother of the arts, and the fchool of fuperflition. 
 According to them, religion in time changes fo en- 
 tirely, that even the fliadow of its primitive form 
 can no longer be difcovered : but we find, on the 
 contrary, that the great maxim of the Egyptian 
 priefls was to prevent all innovations in religious 
 matters, and their difciple Plato imbibed that opinion 
 fo ftrongly, that he conceives no greater madnefs 
 
 than
 
 i 4 o PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 than to change any thing whatever in public wor- 
 fhip*. All ceremonies and facrifices, fays he, whether 
 adopted from the favages, or introduced by thofe who 
 confulted the oracles of Delphi, Dodona, orAmmon, 
 fhould be allowed to remain precifely as they are. 
 Similar ideas are difcovered in the preliminary dif- 
 courfe of Zaleucus and Charondas, as well as in the 
 works of Cicero ; and we are therefore led to affirm, 
 that the mod celebrated legiflators of antiquity pre- 
 ferved invariably the fame fentiments both in theory 
 and practice. Solon, who reformed the whole re- 
 public of Athens, and pointed out even the proper 
 places for bee-hives and water-pits, never mentions a 
 lingle word concerning the religion of the Athe- 
 nians f. We cannot confider, under that point of 
 view, his laws and inftitutions to diminifii luxury in 
 burials ; and this evil, fo general in the whole world, 
 mould have been reprefled at Rome by the vigor of 
 the twelve tables : nothing, it is faid, muft more 
 certainly deflroy the power of the Tartars in China 
 than their funeral expences, if fome means are not 
 adopted for reftraining this fpecies of oflentation, fo 
 common to all the ancient Scythians. 
 
 Thefe details may ferve to anfwer the inquiries of 
 thofe who are aftonifhed at finding fome nations, in 
 former times, uniting the wifeft laws with the moil 
 
 * De Legibue, Dial, v, 
 
 j- Solon is faid to have built a temple at Athens to the vulgar 
 Venus, ffi iravtSufji.u. The fa& however is far from being afcer- 
 tained, and we cannot thence conclude that he introduced any re- 
 form into religion. 
 
 foolifh
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 141 
 
 foolifh religion. The greater part of their religious 
 worihip had been continued from favage life ; and 
 civil inftitutions, on the contrary, could be framed 
 only in a ftate of civilization. When the maxim 
 was eflablifhed of admitting no innovations in fuch 
 matters, many nations, otherwife very polifhed, con- 
 tinued to obferve ceremonies invented by barbarians. 
 The legiflators we have mentioned fell into this er- 
 ror, becaufe they made no diftinftion between the 
 effence and mere acceflbry parts of religion : befides, 
 as the laws rendered them odious to all the vicious, it 
 would not have been prudent to increafe the danger, 
 by incurring likewife the hatred of the fuperftitious. 
 
 Pharaoh Bocchoris conceived the idea of removing 
 the facred bull, called Mnevis, from the town of He- 
 liopolis, and by that means he loft entirely the efleem 
 of the people, among whom fuch animals had been 
 worfhipped for a greater length of time than the 
 Roman empire exifted. Apis did not difappear alto- 
 gether at Memphis, until the reign of Theodofius ; 
 and, according to Mr. Jablonfld, the firft had been 
 confecrated one thoufand one hundred and feventy- 
 one years before our prefent era. Thus a regular 
 fucceffion had taken place during a period of at leafl 
 fifteen hundred and fifty years : but we are induced 
 to fuppofe it much longer, becaufe Mr. Jablonlki 
 has been guided by the fentiment of Eufebius, and in 
 fuch matters that of Manethon feems preferable *. 
 
 The dietetic regimen of Egypt was wholly relative 
 to climate, and as moft of the feafts and ceremonies 
 
 * Panthean ^Egyptiac. lib, iv. cap. 2.
 
 i 4 i PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 were conne&ed with agriculture, the overflowing of 
 the Nile, or aftronomy, the priefts concluded that 
 their worfhip, like nature itfelf, mould be invariable. 
 Befides, they faw the fields well cultivated, while 
 good order and abundance reigned in the towns, 
 and they concluded that a country could never have 
 become fo flourifhing with bad religious inftitutions. 
 But without citing any of the examples before our 
 eyes, it is certain that antiquity prefents a great num- 
 ber of very profperous ftates, where the religion was 
 nothing more than a tiffue of abfurdities and palpa- 
 ble chimeras. In fuch cafes all the advantages en- 
 joyed by the fociety mould be attributed to the na- 
 ture of the police and civil laws. It is not however 
 the defective regimen of Egypt which mould be 
 blamed ; neither do the feafls relative to agriculture 
 deferve the animadverfions of philofophers. Thofe 
 ufages, refpe&able in every point, are worthy of the 
 higheft praife. But the fcandalous diforders com- 
 mitted in the Mendetic Nome ; the worfhip of ani- 
 mals in general ; the licentioufnefs introduced in the 
 proceffions and pilgrimages j the cruel difcipline of 
 the devotees, and the indecencies permitted at the 
 inftallation of Apis, excite abhorrence. When we 
 add to thefe, and a thoufand other fuperftitions, the 
 exceffive expences occafioned by the embalming of 
 certain animals, it is impoflible not to reprobate the 
 oracle, which declared the Egyptians to be the 
 wlfeft of nations, as Socrates was fly led the wifefl of 
 mankind. The power of truth may have operated 
 in favor of a philofopher j but this extravagant praife 
 
 of
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 14.3 
 
 of the Egyptians could only proceed from a fenti- 
 ment of gratitude in the Greeks. They did not for- 
 get their being indebted to them for the arts and 
 fciences ; and fcholars are inclined to believe them- 
 felves inferior in knowledge to their matters, even 
 v. hen they might well difpute the palm. 
 
 All the abufes we have mentioned prove, that the 
 maxim of permitting no innovation in religious mat- 
 ters was falfe and pernicious j whatever may be ad- 
 vanced in its favor by Plato. The Egyptians at all 
 events might have been allowed to preferve what was 
 called the weeping worfhip, becaufe gloomy people 
 may require at times to be abandoned to their me- 
 lancholy : but it was folly to let fuch men fcourge 
 themfelves in the temples. Thofe who get fo far be- 
 yond nature, inftincl:, and reafon, are capable of any 
 crime, and can never be retrained by civil inflitu- 
 tions. Thus it is found in Italy, that the procefTions 
 of flagellants are generally compofed of the greateft 
 villains. 
 
 The doctrine of the Egyptians concerning the fu- 
 ture (late of the foul appears to have been very com- 
 plicated. Mr. Mofheim has evenfuppofed that two 
 opinions entirely oppofite reigned there*; becaufe he 
 could not reconcile the fentiments of ancient writers, 
 fome of whom affirmed that the people adhered to 
 the metempfychofis, while others denied the faft. 
 But this contradiction, which certainly exifls among 
 
 * Ad Syftem. Intellect. Cudworth, cap. iv. Servius, the 
 Commentator of Virgil, attributes likewife a Angular opinion to 
 the Egyptians, which however is evidently falfe, 
 
 authors,
 
 544- 
 
 authors, did not exift among theEgyptians, who do not 
 appear to have ever known in early ages the doctrine 
 of the tranfmigration of fouls. What we find ad- 
 vanced in the works of Clemens of Alexandria, 
 Diogenes Laertius, Philoflratus, and the Poemander 
 of the pretended Hermes, originated entirely from 
 Herodotus, who in that point has been greatly de- 
 ceived. This cannot furprife us when we perceive 
 the manifeft errors adopted by the Romans and 
 Greeks in writing on the religion of the Jews, to 
 whom they afcribed different opinions totally un- 
 known to that nation; and they could not have 
 been actuated by any intention of rendering them 
 odious, becaufe that required no calumny. But 
 their mifreprefentations proceeded folely from the 
 little pains taken by thofe writers to obtain informa- 
 tion ; and the Romans in particular were fo ignorant 
 in fuch matters, that they neither knew the hiftory 
 nor dogmas of Judaifm, even when it was tolerated 
 at Rome. Are we to be perfuaded after this, that a 
 man like Herodotus could not be deceived in writing 
 the religious tenets of the Egyptians ; efpecially as 
 he knew nothing of their language, and had to con- 
 fult interpreters, who, on the fmgle article of the 
 pyramids, amufed him with fuch lies as can no longer 
 be believed, even by children? 
 
 Thofe who adopt flrictly the fyftem of the tranf- 
 migration of fouls, like the Thibetans and Hindoos, 
 take little pains about their dead bodies : they 
 either commit them to the flames or to the earth 
 immediately; while the Ethiopians and Egyptians 
 
 did
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 145 
 
 did every thing poffible for their prefervation. On 
 this account they held the fea in horror ; for thofe 
 who were drowned had but little chance of being 
 embalmed. Yet as they continued to navigate the 
 Nile, particular priefts were appointed to drag for the 
 carcafies, and convert them into mummies at the pub- 
 lic expence. This averfion to the fea was no incon- 
 venience as long as the Egyptians neither had nor 
 wifhed to have any fleet ; but when other times 
 brought different fentiments, it became neceifary to 
 mitigate that opinion, which was alfo adopted incon- 
 fiderately by the Greeks and Romans. Prophyry 
 has preferved a prayer recited for the dead in Egypt *j 
 and it proves to our fatisfaction that the people of 
 that country neither adhered in the leaft to the fyftem 
 of the metempfychofis ; nor to that of fatality, 
 which excludes all future rewards and punifh- 
 ments ; nor to that called moral or real, where 
 both are admitted. Plutarch gives us to underfland 
 clearly that thofe people were miftaken who believed 
 that human fouls paffed into the bodies of facred 
 animals ; and that opinion was attributed with as 
 little foundation to the Egyptians, as the adoration 
 of fwine and aflfes to the Jews. Had the Egyp- 
 tians thought like the Bramins on all thofe matters, 
 they would not have fed on the flefh of animals, nor 
 immolated bulls, calves, goats, fheep, and many 
 other victims which the Bramins dare not eat, and 
 
 * De Abflinentia ab Animal. 
 
 VOL. IT. L much
 
 146 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 much lefs (laughter *. Any aft of that nature, be* 
 fides future punifhments, would entail on them the 
 ignominy referved for the poulichis and the patiah, 
 concerning whom we have reafon to wifh for more 
 information. Occafion has already been taken to 
 obferve how many fables are introduced into the 
 narratives of certain travellers ; and lefs acrimony 
 mould be teftified towards thofe who examine their 
 aflertions by the aid of found criticifm. Every pre- 
 caution is Certainly neceflary at this day to prevent 
 Europe from being filled with fuch falfehoods as 
 thofe concerning the giants of Magellan. It is how- 
 ever without reafon that the poulichis and patiah are 
 faid to reprefent in India two Egyptian tribes, called 
 by Herodotus the caftes of boatmen and fwine-herds. 
 The Indians differ exceedingly from the Egyptians 
 by rejecting circumcifion ; by admitting a hell in the 
 loweft part of the Onderah ; and finally, by believ- 
 ing that endlefs chaflifements are referved for certain 
 crimes, fuch as fuicide and beftiality j. The Egyp- 
 tians 
 
 * Holwell defcribes the chaftifement referved for the Bramins 
 who kill animals, chap. iv. 
 
 t Suicide, according to the Indian tenets, is an inexpiable 
 crime, becaufe it interrupts the courfe of tranfmigration. How 
 they can reconcile the conduft of the women who commit them- 
 felves voluntarily to the 8ames with their religion, is difficult to 
 conceive ; for their death is as much fuicide as that of Calami;- 
 and fome other Bramins mentioned by the ancients. 
 
 It has been imgoflible for me to learn what was the doflrine of 
 the Egyptians concerning fuicide', or how far it was conformable 
 
 to
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 147 
 
 tians reprobated the idea of eternal punishments, and 
 believed only in purgatory, called in their language 
 Amentbes. From that place no road led direlly to 
 heaven, and thofe who entered there had to refume 
 at a future day their former body, or the matter they 
 had firfl animated. According to the theology of 
 the Egyptians, the philofophers, and thofe who had 
 practifed the moft rigid virtue, were the only people 
 whofe fouls went directly to dwell with God, without 
 pafling through purgatory, or ever being fubjecl: to 
 refurrection. It is proper to obferve, that in this 
 point alone their dogmas have fome little affinity with 
 thofe of the Hindoos. 
 
 In the Egyptian ceremonies a public confefiion was 
 made in the name of fome dead perfons, declaring 
 that they had conftantly honored their parents ; that 
 they adhered invariably to the religion of the 
 flate; that their hearts were never fullied with a 
 crime, nor their hands tinged with human blood in 
 the midft of peace ; that they had preferved and rcli- 
 gioufly difcharged every truft confided to them ; and 
 finally, that during their whole lives they had never 
 given reafon to any perfon to complain of an injury. 
 All thefe conditions were evidently indifpenfable for 
 thofe who hoped to efcape the amentbes or purgatory; 
 
 to that of the Greeks. The latter were probably the inventors 
 of the whimfical ceremony of ofcillation, intended to aid the fouls 
 of thofe who had hanged themfelves to pafs the Styx. For this 
 purpofe fmall figures were fufpendcd by cords, and kept a long 
 time in motion, to ferve inftead of funeral ceremonies, which the 
 religion and the laws refufed to thofe who took away their own 
 Uves. ctiras hominum ! 
 
 L 2 an.4
 
 14.3 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATION'S 
 
 and to me it appears obvious that this doftrine on 
 the duties of the man and of the citizen is an ex- 
 tract from what was read in the lefler myfteries, 
 where it was probably difplayed on two tables of 
 ftone. The Greeks affure us pofitively that two 
 fuch tablets were brought before the initiated; and 
 that circumftance tends to explain numbeilefs diffi- 
 culties. 
 
 We are here hiflorians : our object is only to enu- 
 merate the different opinions, without attempting to 
 indicate precifely how far they were either whimfical 
 or ufelefs, like that of making fouls return from 
 amenthes to re-inhabit the earth. The uncertainty 
 relative to thofe who were to refume their former 
 ftate, or pafs immediately into heaven, rendered it 
 necefiary to embalm every perfon through precau- 
 tion ; and Plutarch fays, that two places in Egypt, 
 near Memphis and Abydos, were preferred to all 
 others for interment. We have already remarked, 
 that mummies, although very common at Memphis, 
 are exceedingly rare towards Mad-fune, or the buried 
 town; either becaufe a mountain of ruins fruftrates 
 all attempts to penetrate into the vaults, or elfe the 
 bodies depofited there are lefs numerous than has 
 been generally believed. El-Berbi is properly the 
 place where the famous temple of Abydos once ex- 
 ifted: but now even the pedeftals of the columns are 
 removed, and cut into millftones, by the Turks and 
 Arabs, whofe pailion for antiquities extends no fur- 
 ther. Mr. Niebuhr, who was fent into Arabia by 
 the late king of Denmark, pretends to have found a 
 
 third
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 149 
 
 third Egyptian burying-ground, fituated about fixty 
 miles from a place where the Red Sea can now be 
 patted on foot without afcending above the mid-leg 
 at low water. 
 
 It is very remarkable, that fo many Egyptian mo- 
 numents mould be difcovered in Arabia Petrsea; 
 and Mr. Niebuhr allures us that an entire Egyptian 
 town is adually feen there, poflefled of lands highly 
 cultivated*, although never mentioned by any hif- 
 torian. The inhabitants of Heroonopolis might have 
 carried fome of their mummies about five miles be- 
 yond what is called Gibel-el-Mokateb, or the hewn 
 mountain. But we have never underftood that the 
 Egyptians ufed fepulchral (tones, fuch as Mr. Niebuhr 
 calls Leichenjieine ; neither is any thing of the kind 
 obferved in the Elyfian fields, nor in the great bury- 
 ing-place between Sacbara and Bucbaris, on which 
 the Greeks have fo ftrongly exercifed their imagina- 
 tions. Cocytus, that formidable river, is now only 
 a little canal, parting from the Nile and Lethe ano- 
 ther (till lefs confiderable. The Egyptians, we may 
 fuppofe, preferred that place for their fepulchre, be- 
 caufe they wifhed to be interred near the pyramids. 
 Thofe monuments, fo well calculated to embellilh 
 defcriptions, and far more important than the ditches 
 of Cocytus and Lethe, have never once been men- 
 
 * So vide fchane geJxinene Jle'me lannen ihrem vrfprung n'uht von 
 benmJtrtifendenfatiuBfn gehabt halen fondern miiffen notbiuendig 
 \ jn den Einmobturn e'mer grofftn Jladt herruhren. Undivenn in differ 
 jetze tvujlen gegend eitie groffe Jladt geftantien hat fo mufsjie ubtrhaupt 
 auch beffer angebauet geviffen Jeyn. Befchrieb. von Arabicn. 
 
 L 3 tkmed
 
 x 5 o PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 tioned by the Greek mythologifts, although the great 
 pyramids on one fide, and the fmaller on the other, 
 are feen diltindly from the Elyfian fields. We mufl 
 not however infer that they were built later than the 
 days of Orpheus and Homer, becaufe thofe two poets 
 are totally filent on the fubje&. 
 
 The Egyptians do not appear to have ever pofleff- 
 ed any writings afcribed to infpired authors ; but 
 the great colleges publimed, under the fanction 
 of Thoth or Hermes, whatever concerned religion ; 
 and neither priefts nor private perfons ever treated 
 fuch matters in their own name. All books relative 
 to jurifprudence, hiftory, and aftrology, were like- 
 wife confidered facred, particularly when compiled 
 or calculated by the Pharaohs. Treatifes on aflro- 
 logy, however, were not afcribed to Tboth, but to their 
 real authors, fuch as Suchis and P llo/iris ; and to Ne- 
 cepfos, the great promoter of that fuperflition fo in- 
 herent in eailern nations *. Kerim-Kan, the con- 
 queror of Perfia, was accompanied in all his expedi- 
 tions by aftrologers ; and Alexander long before had 
 provided himfelf in Egypt with perfons of that clafs, 
 in the fame manner that pilots are taken for an un- 
 known coaft. The fervices they rendered him by 
 explaining an eclipfe of the moon very remarkable 
 
 * Some modern authors have confideredMr^j as the inventor 
 of judiciary ailrology, becaufe St. Paulin fays, 
 
 Quique Magos docu'it mvfteria vana Necepfos. 
 
 Apud Aufon. xix. Epift. 
 
 But as judiciary aftrology !s,.a folly more ancient than the days 
 of this author, liis teftimony cannot be held conclufivc. 
 
 in
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 15* 
 
 in ancient hiftory, were very great, according to 
 Quintus Curtius, but Arrian relates the whole affair 
 in a different manner*. 
 
 Clemens of Alexandria has given us the contents 
 of forty-two Hermetic books adopted by the great 
 colleges. The firft volume was of little importance, 
 becaufe it contained nothing more than the pfalms of 
 the Egyptians ; but we have to regret the lofs of the 
 fecond, where rules of conduct were prefcribed for 
 the kings, concerning which we mail have occafion 
 to fpeak more fully in the fequel. Unfortunately 
 even no extracts remain of the eighth and ninth vo- 
 lumes of that collection, treating of cofmography 
 and geography. Some authors have regarded the 
 latter as the favorite fcience of the Egyptians ; and 
 yet their notions concerning it mud have been re- 
 duced to fome practical rules in compofmg plans or 
 maps. The Chinefe were incapable of performing 
 even fo much on the arrival of the miflionaries ; for 
 they poffelfed nothing more than fcraps of paper 
 containing fome characters placed to the north or 
 ibuth of a river, without indicating either the dif- 
 tances or relative pofitions of places. The emperor 
 Can-hi had to employ Europeans in co.mpofing maps 
 of his own country, and thefe, after all, were fo im- 
 perfect, that in the year one thoufand feven hundred 
 and thirty the latitude of Pe-kin was faulty, and the 
 longitude very uncertain. 
 
 Had any treatife on cofmogony, written by real 
 Egyptians, been preferved, we might be able to fpeak 
 
 * Curt. lib. jv. cap. 10. Arrian, lib. iii. 
 
 L 4 of
 
 j 5 i PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATION^ 
 
 of that matter with more precifion. In this uncer- 
 tainty recourfe has been had in vain to the pretended 
 Hymns of Orpheus, the Theogony of Hefiod, and 
 the Fragments of Sanchoniathon. Philo has endea- 
 voured to render Phenicia in general, and particu- 
 larly the town of Byblos, illuftrious at the expence 
 of hiflory and truth, to the former of which he was 
 a ftranger, and to the latter an enemy. The inven- 
 tor of the Hymns of Orpheus, the moft expert of 
 thofe pfeudonymous writers, has at lead preferved 
 fome few traces of the Egyptian doctrine, fo much 
 disfigured by the Greeks, and moft of all by Plato *, 
 They either did not underftand the language of that 
 country, or tranflated badly, and by terms far from 
 being fynonymous. The fame thing happened in the 
 beginning of the prefent century with regard to the 
 Chinefe, and we know how many difputes have 
 arifen about the real fignification of the words Tien 
 and Chang-it. It was then very ftrange to fee a Tar- 
 tar endeavouring to reconcile all the theologifls by 
 declaring, in direct contradiction to the decifion of 
 the pope, that the Chinefe were not idolaters. But 
 we may fuppofe that this man would have been much 
 puzzled to explain clearly the nature of idolatry j 
 becaufe, moft probably, he did not poffefs the fub- 
 tilties of thofe illuftrious Jewiih writers, who, like 
 Abravenel, decided pofitively, that the different 
 
 * The dialogue between God and Night, fuppofed to be written 
 by Orpheus, has at leaft the ftyle of the Afiatics. The Indians 
 have another, far more judicious, where the Divinity is made to 
 converfe with Human Reafon. 
 
 kinds
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 153 
 
 kinds of idolatry were neither more nor lefs than 
 ten. But in this calculation they furely forgot the 
 eleventh, which confifls in ufury and clipping mo- 
 neyj for who are more idolaters than the avari- 
 cious ? 
 
 It muft not be believed that the Egyptians ever 
 employed the term Typbon to fignify the evil genius, 
 called in their language Seth, Babi, or Papy, and 
 very different from the Grigri of the negroes. Seve- 
 ral fables concerning Typhon, who was faid to be 
 always connected with an Ethiopian queen named 
 Azo> tend to fuggeft that this mythological phantom 
 came originally from the favages of Ethiopia, who 
 had probably invented fome rude and noify inftru- 
 ment to frighten away the Babi. In Siberia, along 
 the coaft of Africa, and an the new world, as far 
 as Terra del Fuego, many nations employ bells, 
 rattles, and drums, or gourds filled with {tones, 
 againft the evil fpirits. The favages frequently fancy 
 themfelves befieged during the night by demons, and 
 on the flighted indifpofition they apply to the exor- 
 cifms of jugglers, who always make fuch a horrible 
 noife, that the patient is entirely ftupified. As the 
 Egyptians have always difcovered, we will not fay 
 great conflancy, but aftonifhing obftinacy in pre- 
 ferving their ancient religious cuftoms, we may pre- 
 fume that the inftrument ufed by the Ethiopians for 
 driving away the Babi, was really the fiflrum, carried 
 by each affiftant in all the Egyptian ceremonies. Bo- 
 chart has even proved that in very ancient times 
 Egypt was called the Land of Citherns, which were 
 
 not,
 
 5 4 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 not, as we have already obferved, fuch inftruments 
 as the celebrated muficians of Alexandria mentioned 
 by Ammianus * could ever employ in their concerts. 
 In the days of Plutarch the lower clafs of people in 
 Egypt continued to believe that the noife of the fif- 
 trum drove awayTyphonf ,whofe power diminifhed in 
 proportion as reafon advanced. The fame thing has 
 happened in every country of the world ; for mifchie- 
 vous fpirits and hobgoblins are only formidable among 
 favages and barbarians. Different monuments in the 
 towns of Apollo and Mercury attefl that the Egyp- 
 tians confidered Typhon as fubjeft to the power of 
 the Supreme Being ; and the facerdotal fables repre- 
 fented that monfler as drowned in the lake Sirbon, 
 whither he was thrown headlong, after having been 
 ftruck with thunder. It mould likewife be obferved, 
 that he was always fuppofed to poflefs more influence 
 on natural effects than in the affections of the human 
 mind. To him were afcribed the burning winds, fo 
 noxious in that country, as well as the fuffocating 
 fogs around Pelufmm j and it was he likewife who 
 appeared in thofe water-fpouts on the Mediterranean, 
 which are flill known by his name. 
 
 Thus the Egyptians would feem to have been much 
 more embarrafled in explaining the origin of phy- 
 fical than of moral evil, It is eafy to admit that 
 beings fuppofed to be born free agents, mould feek 
 
 * Ne nunc qu'idem in eadem urbs doRrina vana Jilcnt . Non apud 
 cos exaruit nni/ica, nee harmonia conticitit. JLib, 22. 
 
 \ TypIivnemchingoreJiftrortimpeUipOjl/ecredebant. De Ifid. 5c 
 
 Ofirid. 
 
 in
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. j 5S 
 
 in themfelves alone the fource of vices and of virtues: 
 even the vulgar are capable of conceiving this ; but 
 the convulfions of nature, fo far beyond the power 
 of man, and deftroying alike the innocent and the 
 guilty, differ greatly in their eyes from that phyfical 
 evil which produces diforder in the paffions. After 
 this, it is almoft incredible to find Mr. Fourmont, 
 in his Critical Obfervations on the Ancients, endeavour- 
 ing ferioufly to demonftrate that the Typhon of the 
 Egyptians was no other than Jacob the patriarch of 
 the Jews *. This chimera alone furpafles all thofe of 
 Huet, Kircher, and Warburton. The allegorical 
 fables related by Plutarch feem indeed to indicate 
 that the Egyptians confidered the Hebrews as a 
 wicked and typhonic race. Thofe allegories how- 
 ever were probably confined to the populace, and 
 not extracted from the books of the priefts, in which, 
 according to Jofephus, nothing more was found con- 
 cerning the Jews than that they had been collected 
 in A*uaris, called likewife the 'Town of Typhon. The 
 fituation of that place is very interefting for geo- 
 graphy, and flill more for hiftory ; yet no perfon has 
 hitherto been able to point it out with certainty. In 
 our opinion Avaris is the fame town with Sethron, 
 and its diftricl: formed the lefler Land of Gojhen ; for 
 the Jews never inhabited the greater, fituated forty 
 leagues more to the fouth, and belonging to a town 
 called Herackopclis Magna ; while the little Land of 
 
 * Vol. i. lib. ii. cap. 15. 
 
 Gomen
 
 , 5 <j PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 Gofhen formed part of the territory of Heradeopolis 
 Parva, or Sethron in the Delta *. 
 
 The mythological victory of the gods over Typhon 
 may in one fenfe be fuppofed to refer to the expulfion 
 of the fhepherd kings, and in another to the drain- 
 ing of Lower Egypt by canals. Prior to that un- 
 dertaking the country was uninhabitable, and it is 
 eafy to conceive that the fogs there muft have been 
 exceedingly pernicious. Independently of the other 
 caufes already affigned, as connected with the origin 
 of the plague, it mould be obferved that the two 
 chains of mountains bordering that country on both 
 fides from the cataracts of the Nile as far as Cairo, 
 form a long, deep, and narrow valley, where the 
 air cannot circulate freely. Several elbows befides 
 prevent the wind from following even a longitudinal 
 direction. In the fame manner, from the narrow- 
 nefs and irregularity of the flreets of Conftantinople, 
 the contagion is constantly preferved, becaufe the cur- 
 rent of air wants force to diflipate the noxious par- 
 ticles. The ancients pretended that in Egypt the 
 
 * The Egyptian priefts did not infert the real names of the 
 ufurpers in their memoirs ; but they denoted them by odious fym- 
 bols. Cambyfes was the poignard ; Ochus, the afs; and the firft 
 of the (hepherd kings, Typhon or Seth. Thus Sethron, where 
 they refided,had the name of the Town of Typhon, in the facer- 
 dotal books, although it was properly Gofen, or the lefler city of 
 Hercules. The fhepherds called it Avaris, orphans; but after 
 their expulfion it received again the name of Sethron or Typho- 
 nopolis, which are fynonymous terms, 
 
 wind
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 157 
 
 wind never defcended low enough to agitate confi- 
 derably the waters of the Nile ; but they Ihould have 
 contented themfelves with faying that the veflels are 
 there fubject to frequent calms. It is certain that, as 
 Ariflotle afierts, the Nile had formerly but one 
 mouth *: all the others were formed by human in- 
 duftry, and increafed to feven, not without fome 
 affectation of equalling the fuppofed number of the 
 planets. But the Tanaitic mouth was never confe- 
 crated, as fome have believed, to Typhon. The 
 averfion teftified for Tanais proceeded merely from 
 its having been inhabited by the fhepherd kings. 
 That place was always expofed to the incurfions of 
 the Arabs, and at this day a horde of Bedouins 
 feed their cattle in the diftrid called formerly the 
 Little Land of Gomen. 
 
 As we have aimed at nothing more than to indi- 
 cate thofe points in which the religion of ancient 
 Egypt differed effentially from that of China, it is 
 not neceflary to introduce long difcuffions on the 
 panegyres, or folemn feafts. They were not fo nu- 
 merous as we might be led at firft to believe, be- 
 caufe they were not celebrated by all the provinces 
 at one time ; and many are regarded as different, 
 although they may have been eflentially the fame. 
 
 * Meteor, lib. i, cap. 2. Ariftotle believed, that the only na- 
 tural mouth of the Nile was that of Canopus : but in very ancient 
 times the river discharged itfelf at the point of the Delta, about 
 thirty leagues more to the fouth than Canopus. This appears 
 credible on infpe&ing the face of the country. 
 
 2 The
 
 ,5$ PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 The feafl of bludgeons, held in the autumn, was pro- 
 bably no other than that witnefled by Herodotus at 
 Papremis in the Delta, where the devotees fought 
 with clubs, or poles j but, as he affures us, without 
 the lofs of any lives. Thus that folly, however great 
 and reprehenfible, could not be compared with the 
 combats of the gladiators in Italy. The feflival in 
 the beginning of the dog-days feems to have differed 
 little from that of the lamps in the town of Sais ; 
 and finally, what the Greeks called Niloa^ and the 
 Romans the birth-day of Apis, coincided exactly 
 with the feafl folemnized at the fummer folflice, as 
 we learn pofitively from Heliodorus. Egypt then 
 offered the gayefl fpectacle in .the whole year ; for 
 thofe who were naturally gloomy and thoughtful 
 made at leafl great efforts to furmount their melan- 
 choly. Mr. Niebuhr obferves, that the modern 
 Egyptians, even when moft defirous of appear- 
 ing joyful, are never fo in reality. They feern 
 indeed to have difcovered the fame difpofition in 
 former times, although the priefls neglected nothing 
 to render the theophanies and panegyres fo very 
 amufmg, that they were called by Ovid the Delights 
 of the Nile. Ancient phyficians, who prefcribed a 
 voyage to Alexandria for their patients, furely did 
 not hope for any advantage from the air of that 
 place; but they were led to expect much from the 
 diverfity of flrange objects and public amufements 
 fo numerous in Egypt, but too frequently accompa- 
 nied with the grofTeft debauchery. Yet, whatever 
 
 Juvenal
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 159 
 
 Juvenal may have advanced *, we cannot believe eafily 
 that the indigenous inhabitants always carried difib- 
 lutenefs to fuch excefs as the Greeks of Canopus, 
 who feem to have been unequalled in the world. 
 Polybius allures us, that in his time Alexandria con- 
 tained no other decent people than the native Egyp- 
 tians, and they did not amount to one third of the 
 inhabitants. The reft confifted of a mixture of 
 Greeks and Jews joined to the refufe of all the dif- 
 ferent countries of Europe and Afia* 
 
 Befides the fabbath, which the Egyptians feem to 
 have obferved very regularly, they had a fixed fef- 
 tival at each new moon ; one at the fummer, and 
 another at the winter folflice, as well as at the ver- 
 nal and autumnal equinoxes. All others, except 
 that on the rifmg of Sinus, were changeable, and 
 dependent on certain combinations known to the 
 priefts only, who transferred them arbitrarily, when- 
 ever they occurred on the neomenia, the equinox, or 
 the folftice. 
 
 No modern author has ever been able to explain 
 why the priefts of Egypt adhered fo obflinately to 
 the uncertain year in matters of religion. They even 
 exacted a dreadful oath from all their kings, previous 
 to inauguration, never to aboliih the imperfect year, 
 which was too fhort by five hours, forty-eight mi- 
 nutes, and thirty-feven fecondsf. The Jews, who 
 
 * Horrida fane 
 
 JEgyptus ; fed luxuria, quantum ipfe nofavi, 
 Barbara famofo non cedit turba Canopo. 
 
 f The priefts of Egypt inferted an extraordinary day only on 
 each fourth, fixed, or facred year. 
 
 were
 
 u6o PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 were the worfl aftronomers in the world, except 
 perhaps the Chinefe, held at times a fecret council to 
 determine whether or not they mould add a month 
 to their lunar year. To this aflembly neither the 
 king nor the high-prieft could gain admiffion, be- 
 caufe, as it was the intereft of the latter to prevent, 
 and of the former to effect, an intercalation, both 
 their votes appeared fufpicious *. 'The fovereigns of 
 Egypt were probably in the fame fituation ; and the 
 priefts did not forget that when five days were at 
 one time added to the year, the Pharaohs, as Plu- 
 tarch fays, infifted on having one entirely for repofe. 
 Befides, the facerdotal order pretended to the ex- 
 clufive right of compofing the almanacs ; and they 
 alone were capable of the tafk, as long as the year 
 remained uncertain. The ineonveniencies this oc- 
 calioned in civil life were however very trifling ; 
 becaufe every thing belonging to agriculture and the 
 overflowing of the Nile was exactly regulated by 
 fixed feafls, which indicated to the people each new 
 moon, equinox, and folftice. It was from Egypt that 
 Greece and Italy received the only tolerable calen- 
 dars they poflefied. Lucan reprefents Casfar, after 
 having fupped with Cleopatra, as boafling that the 
 Julian year mould cede in nothing to that of Eu- 
 doxus f . It is not however very probable that any 
 
 * Mof. Maimonid. de Confecratione Kalendar. & Ratione Inter- 
 calandi. The kings of Judea might in certain cafes have had an 
 interefl in making the year confiil of thirteen months ; and it 13 
 right that fuch matters fhould not depend on the will of any clafs 
 of men. 
 
 "f Nee metis Eudoxi vincefur fafi&ns annus, 
 
 man
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 16.1 
 
 man mould think of.fuch matters at table with Cleo- 
 patra : befides, Eudoxus had fludied in Egypt ; and 
 as Ccefar employed an Egyptian, he could only value 
 himfelf on his good inclination. 
 
 We fnall terminate this article by fome obferva- 
 tions on the pretended zeal of making profelytes, 
 attributed to the Egyptians. This opinion is founded 
 alone on the numerous temples :n different countries 
 where divine worfhip was celebrated according to the 
 Iliac rites by morn priefls clad in linen, whofe pro- 
 bity was very doubtful ; but the real Egyptians never 
 took any pains to make profelytes, and the worfhip 
 of Ifis was propagated in the iflands of the Archipe- 
 lago, at Corinth, Tithorsea, and almoft every town 
 in Italy, by Afiatic Greeks, who received Neophytes 
 without fubjeding to circumcifion, although in Egypt 
 that operation was confidered as indifpenfable. Some 
 temples of Ifis, like that of Bologna, might have 
 had fixed revenues, becaufe they were founded by 
 Roman families or rich freedmen j but the greater 
 part had only begging priefts, who knocked at every 
 door with their fiftrum, and perfuaded the common 
 people that no crime was fo enormous as that of 
 refufing them charity *. This evil foon arrived at 
 its height in Italy, where all exertions of the police 
 to check it were ineffectual ; for the meafures taken 
 by the fenate and the emperors againft the wormip- 
 pers of Ifis were equally abfurd with thofe they had 
 employed to extirpate the Jews and aflrologers. 
 
 * JEcffuts tta eft sudax, tit llmine cogat al'ire 
 
 Aciantcm Pliarld tinnulajtftra manu ? Ovid, de Pont, i. 
 VOL. II. M We
 
 i6z PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 \7e do not, however, mean to deny that in the 
 reign of the Ptolomies fome real Egyptians might have 
 been found both among the vagabonds already men- 
 tioned and the Galli ; but they were always of the 
 dregs of the people, v/ho, perfecuted at home by 
 poverty, had no other refource than the credulity 
 fupenlidon of mankind*
 
 -,N THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE, 
 
 SECT. VIII. 
 
 ON THE RELIGION OF THE CHINESE. 
 
 THOSE who have endeavoured to eftablifh fome 
 order among the different religions known in 
 the world fmce its creation to the days of the empe- 
 ror Auguftus, have agreed to reduce them to three 
 .claffes : Barbarifm, Scythifm, and Hellenifm. With- 
 out examining here whether or not that circle is fuffi- 
 ciently extenfive to comprehend every fpecies and 
 variety, we may obferve that a particular clafs might 
 well have been allotted for the wormip introduced 
 into favage countries by the Scythians or Tartars. 
 It is now no longer doubtful that the religion of the 
 ancient Chinefe was a branch of Scythifm, adapted 
 to the character of a rude, reftlefs, wandering, and 
 paftoral people : nothing, however, could be more 
 unfit for a peaceable and poll fried fociety. Thus the 
 Tartars, even when capable of preferring their con- 
 quefts, always abandoned their religion, and China for 
 the fame reafon adopted the Indian wormip : yet that 
 country, fituated at the extremity of our continent, 
 and feparated as it were from the reft of the world, 
 mould have adhered more than all others to its na- 
 tional institutions j but they wanted force. 
 
 Leibnitz imagined that the T-King, which is, 
 undoubtedly, the moft ancient monument of the 
 Chinefe, contained the elements of binary arithmetic. 
 
 The conjecture, however, of that great man was 
 by far too ingenious j and it is furprifmg that he, who 
 
 M 2 knew
 
 i6 4 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 knew the hifiory of the ancient Germans, fhorld not 
 have perceived that they likewiie have their T King. 
 With them, as well as with the Chinefe, it was 
 nothing more than a table of chances ; and we have 
 every reafon to believe that the fame fpecies of divi- 
 nation was pradtifed by the Scythians. That of the 
 Chinefe contains fixry-four marks, compofed of 
 flraight lines, fome of which are whole and others 
 broken. The perfon who confults Fortune, throws 
 forty-nine fmall rods at random on the ground, and 
 their fortuitous pofition, accordingly as it correlponds 
 with the marks of the T-King^ indicate s good or bad 
 auguries. Confucius, by vr'.ring the greater part of 
 the rules for this forcery, has injured his reputation 
 irreparably, not only in the eyes of philosophers, 
 but of all thofe who can read without prejudice the 
 h'.flory of China. With regard to the Germans, we 
 are informed very minutely by Tad r us of their 
 throwing rods in the fame manner wiih the Chi- 
 nefe * ; and we have already had occafion, in anot' er 
 work, to (how that this was the origin of the void 
 Buchjlaben, which is dill ufed, although in a very 
 
 different fenfe. 
 
 The mode of throwing the runes, prs&ifed by the 
 other Scythian nations in the north of Furope, is 
 exadly conformable to what i feen in the fourth 
 
 * -; VSf that among the Germans, v ho were originally 
 
 g , i of rhabdomancy was engraved on rods ; 
 
 and we (hall Bad that the Chinefe alio fometimes had rods with 
 infcriptlons. 
 
 book
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 165 
 
 book of He r odotus *, where we find that the Scythi- 
 ans had no other mode of divination than that em- 
 ployed in the greater part in the pagodas in China. 
 The prototype of rhabdormncy is there fixed againft 
 a vail f ; and Fortune is co Julted in the manner we 
 have defcribed, without any more relation to binary 
 arithmetic than to algebra. Although Mr. Leibnitz 
 kept up a correfpondence with the Jefuits of Paris, 
 they never informed him that the T-King was em- 
 ployed by the Chinefe for no other than reprehen- 
 fible purpofes. Had that philofopher been as well 
 informed as we now are of ihofe matters, he would 
 have changed his opinion ; for no perfon was ever 
 lefs inclined to feek reality in vain fupcrftitions. 
 When he undertook to defend the Chinefe againft 
 certain imputations, he acknowledged candidly that 
 none of their books difcovered any true notion of 
 the creation of the world J. This certainly weakens 
 their deifin j for thofe people are far from being 
 
 * Herodotus indeed aflerts that hermaphrodites were found in 
 
 Scythia, who ufed leaves of tree- in divination ; but an entire 
 treatife would be neceflary to explain who thofe men really were, 
 and what was their manner of divination by leaves, which feems 
 not to have been unknown to the Chinefe. Many circumftances 
 relative to the rhabdomancy of the Scythians and Medes are 
 found in Dio. lib. i. Tertiae Compufi'ionis. 
 
 . f In fome pagodas thefe rods are flat, about fix inches long, 
 and covered with cha^aclors ; others contain different kinds, fuch 
 as we find defcribed by Mcndoza, Kiftoria dclla China, lib. ii. 
 cap iv. 
 
 J [n his Col!elinn of Letters, and the notes he has added to the 
 Treadles of Ltingubardi and Antoine de St. Maiie. 
 
 M 3 delfts,
 
 i66 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 deifts, who do not admit the Eternal to be the free 
 creator of the univerfe, and, as Newton exprefles it, 
 the Mafter of Nature. 
 
 When Father .Merfenne afierted in one of his pub- 
 lications that he knew twelve atheifls in one houfe at 
 Paris, and that the whole number in that city 
 amounted to fixty thoufand, the police, by feizing 
 all the copies of the work, quafhed this grofs calumny 
 of a begging cenobite who lived at the expenfe of 
 the public ; but no fuch precaution was ufed againft 
 the treatife of Langobardi, another monk, who did not 
 accnfe fifty or fixty thoufand perfons of atheifm, but 
 the whole clafs of the literati in China. An impu- 
 tation of that nature was too atrocious to proceed 
 from chanty ; and the more atrocious it was, the 
 flronger proofs we ought to have had of its truth : 
 yet nothing was ever lefs clearly demonftrated. 
 Thefe pretended men of letters are exceedingly igno- 
 rant ; and when in their difputes they no longer un- 
 derftand each other, which frequently happens, they 
 trace out with their fans the characters of the word 
 intended to be explained. Never, in fhort, was any 
 language more unfit for metaphyfical difcuffions than 
 that of China, and it is called among the neigh- 
 bouring dates the 'Tongue of Ccnfujion. Rules of 
 grammar and fyntax, invented to render languages 
 diftind and intelligible, are unknown in that jargon j 
 it confifts of no more than three tenfes, and about 
 fifteen or fixteen radical words, not one of which is 
 fynonimous with God, Creation, or Creator ; and 
 the more circumlocutions are introduced, the greater, 
 
 of
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 167 
 
 ofcourfe, is the perplexity. If, under fuch circum- 
 dances, fome of the literati feem incorrect in their 
 notions concerning the eflence of the Divinity, it 
 does not follow by any means that they mud be 
 atheifts ; and their very fuperftition argues the 
 contrary. This is explained in the cleared manner by 
 the following paffage extracted from the work of 
 Father du Halde : 
 
 " The mod able of the Chinefe doctors are igno- 
 rant in general of all parts of philofophy, if we 
 except a little morality. They are incapable of rea- 
 foning with any juftnefs either on natural caufes and 
 effects, or on the foul, the Firft Being, the ftate of 
 another life, or the neceffity of a religion, concerning 
 all which they feem very indifferent. No people, 
 however, apply more time to ftudy than .hey ; but 
 their youth is fpent in learning to read, and the reft 
 of their life in fulfilling the duties of their employ- 
 ments, or in composing academical difcourfes. This 
 total ignorance of nature is the reafon why the mod 
 common effects of nature are always attributed to 
 fome evil genius V 
 
 It would be unjud to require that fuch men mould 
 fpeak and write like philofophers or metaphyncians ; 
 and furely, in them, fuperdition is more remarkable 
 than atheifm. Befides, when it is faid that no idea 
 of the creation of the univerfe is found in the Chinefe 
 books, we mud confider the aflertion as limited to 
 thoie compofed before the thirteenth century. Under 
 
 * Description of China, vol. iii. 
 
 M 4 the
 
 i68 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 the dynafly of the Moguls, fome authors, fiich as 
 Hou-ping, fpoke of the origin of the world nearly in 
 the fame manner as the Mahometans. 
 
 Next to the T-King, or table of chances, in the ca- 
 nonical order, fome place the Cbou-Kivg, which is 
 not an original and complete work, but an imperfect 
 collection of hiftorical occurrences, common-place 
 moral fentences, and various fuperftitions. The com- 
 piler of this piece, which deferves the name of a 
 rhapfody more than either the Iliad or Odyfiey, is 
 not known ; but he evidently lived at a period much 
 later than the events recorded in his work. As the 
 Cbou-Kiag 9 it is faid, was not compiled until the 
 days of Herodotus, it muft always be impoffible to 
 afcertain how much has been added or retrenched 
 by thofe who collected the different pieces ; and the 
 whole production appears very doubtful in the eyes 
 of good critics, when they reflect that it was at one 
 time committed to the flames, and afterwards com- 
 pofed anew : yet fome traces of antiquity are found 
 tru-.-e, and it reprefents the Chinefe, like the 
 other Scythians, as much addicted to intoxication 
 vr'ithfampfu, particularly in the northern provinces, 
 where they firft fettled. That name is given to a 
 fpirit extracted from rice, millet, or wheat, and even 
 from buck- wheat, as fome pretend, although that grain 
 muft certainly have been brought into China from 
 fome other country. The vine is likewife confider- 
 ed as an exotic by travellers, who pretend that it was 
 introduced there fmcethe time of Confucius. This, 
 however, is very uncertain j and we only know that 
 
 anciently,
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 169 
 
 anciently, as at prefent, the Chinefe never prefled 
 any liquor from the grape. Their method of obtain- 
 ing a fpirituous drink from rice was nearly fimllar to 
 that practifed by the Tartars in diftilling the milk of 
 mares. The Chou-King mentions nothing concerning 
 tea ; and we are ignorant of the precautions taken 
 in thofe days againft the bad quality of the water. 
 The ancient Troglodytes employed an infufion of the 
 rhamnus paliurus, which might be very effectual in 
 rendering the bitter \vaters of Arabia potable, and 
 perhaps its properties in that refpect are fuperior to 
 thofe of the tea-tree. 
 
 It is not eafy to give the reader an idea of the 
 whimfical manner in which fome matters of natural 
 philofophy are treated in the Chou-King. The com. 
 piler not only introduces the five elements, but he 
 afierts that each has a particular tafte : thus, accord- 
 ing to him, every combuftible matter is bitter, and 
 every thing fown and reaped is fvveet ; to prove which 
 he mould have cited muftard and coloquintida. It is 
 difficult to conceive how any refemblance could be 
 found between fuch abfurdities, and the treatife of 
 Ocellus Lucanus, whobefides was a very inconfiflent 
 reafoner, as we perceive by his two arguments to 
 prove the eternity of the world. He indeed was 
 not the inventor of that fyftem, but no perfon could 
 have defended it more feebly. 
 
 The ancient inhabitants of Afia erred chiefly in 
 what concerned natural philofophy : But the expref- 
 fions of the Chou-King concerning forcery are diame- 
 trically
 
 j 7 * PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 trically contrary to common fenfe ; and that the 
 reader may judge, we need only copy one paffage : 
 
 If the grandees, the minifters, and the people^ 
 fpeak in one manner, and you think othcrwife, but con- 
 formably to the ftgns of the Tortoife and the Chi, ycur 
 advice willfucceed. 
 
 If the grandees and the minifters are united in fen- 
 timent with the Tortoife and the Chi, although you and 
 the people differ from them, every thing will fucceed 
 equally. 
 
 If the people, the Tortoife, and the Chi, are unani- 
 mous, when you, the grandees, and the minifters, have 
 another opinion, you may be fur e to fucceed interiorly, and 
 fail outwardly. 
 
 If the Tortoife and the Chi oppofe the counfeh of men, 
 it is wife to undertake nothing ; for evil a/one mitft be 
 the confluence *. 
 
 The firft idea fuggefted by this pafiage is, that the 
 compiler of the Chou-King was a Chinefe madman. 
 But as the bad cuftom of interrogating the oracle of 
 Delphi on every fubjecl, public and private, did not 
 prevent the Greeks from becoming polifhed and flou- 
 riming, neither were any ill effects produced by the 
 fuperftitions we have mentioned on the peafants or 
 artifts of China* When enlightened princes and able 
 minifters appeared in that country, they allowed 
 themfelves to be as little impofed upon by the Tor- 
 toife as the Roman fenate by the facred chickens, or 
 the Areopagus and Amphyclionic college by the 
 
 * Chou-King, part IT. chap, 4. 
 
 Pvthia-
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. i 7 t 
 
 Pythia. Yet it were to be defired that the minds of 
 the Chinefe could be diverted of fuch chimeras ; for 
 although they do not affet materially the body of the 
 flate, yet dill, among the common people, their 
 effects are frequently melancholy. 
 
 In a well-regulated country fome means might be 
 devifed of making the blind fubfifl without begging 
 or telling fortunes. The multitude of fuch wretche?, 
 who aik alms in China, is aftoniming ; and they 
 have acquired by their foolim predictions fo much in- 
 fluence on the minds of the people, that their agency 
 was employed in propagating the dogmas of the 
 Catholic religion. As long as fome rich Neophytes 
 paid them bountifully, they continued to recommend 
 baptifm to all thofe who applied for their advice on 
 futurity. The government might eafily prevent the 
 monks from exercifing their forcery with rods in the 
 pagodas ; but thofe who have feen the almanacks 
 printed by direction of the pretended Mathematical 
 Tribunal, and filled with the mod abfurd fuperflitions, 
 are convinced that the Chinefe have no inclination to 
 open their eyes on the abufes which dishonour them 
 in the eighteenth century. 
 
 It would be fuperfluous to enter into extenfive 
 details concerning the other canonical books, or 
 Kings: that called the Spring and Autumn is nothing 
 more than a fmgle chronicle of the princes of Lon 9 
 and China contained at one time about one hundred 
 and twenty fuch kingdoms ; but difcord, which 
 nothing can wirhfland, fwept them all away amidft 
 ftreams of blood. Thofe irnall ftates waged conti- 
 nual
 
 J7 a PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 nual war with each other, like the Aymans or Tartar 
 hordes ; and the manners of the Chinefe were then 
 perfedly ilmilar to thofe of the Scythians. Even, 
 their princes drank out of human (kulls, after having 
 taken off the fcalps, in the barbarous manner de- 
 fcribed. by Herodotus, and flill praclifed by the fa- 
 vacres of North America. The Chi-King is a collection 
 cfverfes, many of which, according to the confeffion 
 of the Jefuits themfelves, are extravagant and impi- 
 ous *. It is, however, curious to obferve in the 
 .Chi-King an ode on the Ruin of Mankind, afuribing 
 that misfortune to a woman, and announcing the 
 fpeedy deftru&ion of the world. This admits of no 
 medium : either the piece has been compofed at 
 fome recent period from Rabbinical ideas, or the 
 author, confidering the Chinefe nation as the whole 
 human race, alludes to the miftrefs of fome wicked 
 prince, who, through weaknefs for her, had difmifled 
 the magiilrates, and given their places to rogues. It 
 is very common with the Chinefe authors to com. 
 plain of the numerous, but not unexampled, misfor- 
 tunes occafioned to the flate by the blind paflion of 
 fome emperors. Another ode in the Cbi-King de- 
 fcribes the dreadful diforders introduced by Pao-J/e, 
 the miftrefs of Teou, a prince configned to the exe- 
 cration of all ages, and commonly ftyled the King of 
 Darknefs : yet thefe facts do not prevent the Chi- King 
 from appearing to be a very doubtful performance, 
 not only on account of the articles rejected by the 
 
 * Du Halde, Defcription of China, vol. ii. 
 
 Jefuits,
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS / ND CHINESE. 17} 
 
 Jefuits, but from the whole collection ; and as much 
 may be faid of the Li-ki. But the paflion of the 
 Chinefe for the number five made them determined, at 
 all riiks, to have five canonical books to equal their 
 five elements, and five manitens, which, according 
 to them, prefide in different parts of the (ky under 
 the direction of the Supreme Genius. Confucius 
 maintained that the even numbers, two, four, fix 
 eight, and ten, were terreilrial, rude, and imper_ 
 feet, while the uneven numbers, one, three, five, 
 feveri, and nine, are celeftial, particularly the two 
 laft. It is eafy to perceive that this prejudice, alto- 
 gether unworthy of a philcibpher, had infected a 
 great part of .Afiatic and European Scythia many 
 ages perhaps before the birth of Confucius : fome 
 traces of it are found not only among the Gerss, the 
 Lamas, the Moguls, and the Calmuks, but likewife 
 among the favages of Siberia. The firft tribute of 
 furs required from the Samoides by the Ruffians, 
 under the czar Bafil Ivanowitz, was brought to the 
 receivers distributed in nine facks. It (truck me im- 
 mediately, when examining fome infcripdons found 
 in Lapland, that the fame myfhc number very fre- 
 quently occurred in them alfo ; and this is not fur- 
 prifmg if the Laplanders are really defcended fro n 
 the Calmuks or Huns, as fome endeavour to prove 
 by analogy of language *. 
 
 * The characters found in Lapland are traced in this manner : 
 
 riixxxm.t-ttiiixxx. 
 
 This formula is repeated Several times in different places, and gives 
 always twice the number nine Knud Leems, Profeffor der Lap- 
 pifchen Sprache, Naehrichten von den Lappen. 
 
 What
 
 74 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 What is called the ancient religion of China has 
 now no pried or clergy, if we except the prince, 
 who unites in his own perfon ail the facerdotal ind 
 imperial authority. Thofe who form the Tribunal 
 of Rites are neither confecratcd nor capable of offer- 
 ing great facrifices ; and the emperor at pleafure or- 
 ders them to be chaftifed like Haves, or difmifled 
 entirely, to mingle with the crowd of common men. 
 When the eunuchs governed the empire, the Tribu- 
 nal of Rites was compofed entirely of fuch mutilated 
 wretches as themfelves. Defpotifm in fact has over., 
 turned prieilhood in China, and trampled it under 
 foot j for, in former times, the Chinefe had cer- 
 tainly their priefts, as well as all the other nations of 
 Scythia. The Kans indeed always poflefied the right 
 of offering certain facrifices, and immolating parti- 
 cular victims, from which they probably were firfl 
 called Sons ef liecrccn ; and the title, Tanjou, of the 
 Calmuk princes refembles greatly the Tien-tfe pre- 
 ferved by the emperors of China. All matters of 
 religion were not, however, totally engrofled by the 
 Kans : thus we find that the Moguls and Mandhuis 
 permitted the Kutuktus to retain forne part of their 
 authority ; and they continue to follow the great 
 hordes when they lodge near the tent of the prince. 
 They refide likewife at the court of Pe-kin ; becaufe 
 the religion of the Lamas is profefled by the Tartars, 
 who, in one thoufand fix hundred and forty-four, 
 fubdued China. Many centuries before that conqueft, 
 the total extinction of the prieflhood had made the 
 Chinefe entruft the fuperintendence of public educa- 
 tion
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. i;j 
 
 tion to the magiilrates ; and fame modern writers 
 have beftowed the high eft encomiums on that mea- 
 fure : but as the country contains many different 
 feels, the magiftrates of the provinces, having no 
 uniform religion, may eafily be led to enforce their 
 particular opinions relative to Fo and Lao-kium. It 
 is truly ridiculous to fuppofe that little mandarins are 
 never the dupes of the feduclion praclifed by the 
 bonzes, who have fo frequently acquired an afcend- 
 ancy over the whole court, and fometimes to fuch a 
 pitch, that we find the emperor Kan-tfou defcending 
 from his throne to become a novice in a bonzery^ 
 When any country has an uniform worfhip, the belt 
 method of giving all poffible force to public inftru&ion 
 there would confift in entrufting it alternately to the 
 magiftrates and the clergy, according to invariable for- 
 mularies adopted by the (late. This would prevent con- 
 tinual and bitter complaints againft wretched preach- 
 ers ; for they muft then become all equally good. 
 
 China had in former times a high prieft, called 
 Tai-cbe-lingi whofe power diminifhed in proportion as 
 that of the emperor increafed. This revolution, 
 added to many others, enervated to fuch a degree 
 the national religion, the dogmas of which were 
 very ill connected, that it became neceffary to intro- 
 duce a foreign lyttem from India. Unfortunately ihe 
 newly-adopted worfhip was no longer in its primitive 
 purity ; for Fo or Budha, having blended with it the 
 corrupt doclrine of repofe and meditation, gave rife 
 *o monkifm, or rather to that fcourge, concerning 
 which we fhall fpeak more particularly hereafter. 
 
 The
 
 i 7 6 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 The Chinefe would have acted more wifely by ad- 
 hering to the ancient miniftry of their Tai-che-ling, 
 than by abandoning themfelves to the lazy and covet- 
 ous race of the bonzes, who are unconnected with 
 the conftitution of the ftate. "Whether they beg or 
 pofiefs lands, fuperftition is to them always equally 
 neceifary ; for they find it as effectual in prcferving 
 as in acquiring riches. The Chinefe, prior to the 
 introduction of Foifm, had indeed other monks, who 
 followed the ancient feel: of Immortals : they are 
 mentioned by Herodotus as well as Plato, in whofe 
 time they were fcattered in the north of Greece, and 
 thence introduced by the Getas into Wallachia and 
 Moldavia, It is not aflonifhing that the Chinefe 
 ihould be incapable of inventing a mode of worfhip 
 adapted to the genius and morals of a civilized peo- 
 ple ; but they made the worft choice poffible among 
 all the religions of their neighbours*. In thofe 
 days the fuperftition of the Parfes were preferable, 
 particularly for a poor nation, to thofe of Fcifm ; be- 
 caufe they admitted no monks, and their dogmas 
 were favorable to agriculture. Thus the princes of 
 Afia, by receiving them into their dominions, had 
 never any caufe for repentance ; and it were to be 
 defired that the fame thing could be faid of the Jews 
 in Europe, who have the more occafion to be reform, 
 ed by others, as they are averfe to it themfelves, and 
 
 * Some hiftorians pretend that the emperor Ming-tl was led 
 to introduce the Indian religien into China from an apparition and 
 a prophecy of Confucius. Such fables are too grofs ever to be 
 admitted. 
 
 continue
 
 ON* THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 177 
 
 continue to praclife ufury as in the days of Mofes. 
 Although the Indian worfhip \vas much corrupted 
 when introduced among the Chinefe, it contained 
 flill fome inflitutioris very proper to correct the natu- 
 ral ferocity of a Scythian people. The innovator 
 Budba had not diminifhed the horror for bloodfhed 
 \vhich charafterifed the dogmas of the Hindoos, who, 
 on that account, are pardoned, or at lead not re* 
 proached, for many of their fuperflitions. The 
 Bonzes even endeavoured to abolifh the punimment 
 of death in China, without perceiving that it could 
 never be difpenfed with in a defpotic Mate ; for no- 
 thing is more variable than the will of princes on a 
 tottering throne. The advice of the bonzes produ- 
 ced fo little effect, that it did not prevent even the 
 innocent relations of crirriinals from being condantly 
 dragged to the fcaffold, except the women, who are 
 fold for flaves according to a maxim of the Scythians 
 mentioned by Herodotus *. Some of their colonies 
 brought the fame cuftom into Ruffia, where it (till 
 continues. 
 
 The ancient religion of China confided chiefly in 
 Ticrifices offered on the hills, whither the emperors 
 repaired with the high pried, and both moil proba- 
 bly immolated victims. In the province of Chan-tong 
 is a mountain, called Tal-cban, fuppofed by fome ot 
 the Chinefe to be the highed in their country, and 
 tradition, as well as hiilory, informs us that its 
 
 * Quos mortc rex ajficit, ryrum ne Hberos quidem rellnqult ; fed 
 ttni-verfos mares interf.c:!, fie mini t Herod. Kb. Iv. 
 
 VOL. u. N- fummit
 
 i 7 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 fummit was long appropriated to facrifices. What is- 
 faid of the infcriptions found there appears very 
 fufpicious ; though it is not impoffible but fome 
 may be found there fimilar to thofe prodigious 
 ilones reared by rhe Scandinavians on feveral high 
 fpots of northern Europe, and fometimes engraved 
 with Runic and Laplandifh characters. The latter 
 are cut on pillars placed on the top of fome elevated 
 rock, where fragments of bones fcattered round 
 prove that facrifices have been offered there for many 
 years by the Laplanders a circumftance which cer- 
 tainly does not weaken the opinion of thofe who 
 confider the Laplanders as defcendants of the Huns ; 
 for the place is (till known where the latter immolat- 
 ed vidtims on a mountain in the province of C/jen-Ji.- 
 Other places have been feen by travellers in Tartary 
 and Siberia confecrated to fimilar religious ceremo- 
 nies j and they feem, indeed, to have been general 
 among the Scythians, to whom the Chinefe undoubt- 
 edly owe their origin. The name of their chief prieft 
 related probably to the facrifices on the high places ; 
 but the great difficulty is to know what, kind of divi- 
 nities were addrefled in that manner. The theology 
 ef the Chinefe has filled heaven and earth with 
 genii, among whom the Oreades, or thofe of the 
 mountains, hold a very diftinguifhed rank, and ftill 
 receive divine honors. All the moft celebrated 
 pagodas of the whole empire are alfo (ituated on the 
 rnofl elevated mountains * : men who had neither 
 
 * New Memoirs on the prefent State of China, vol. i. 
 
 towns
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 179 
 
 towns nor fortreffes, and yet, like the favages of 
 cold countries, were conftantly at war, might fre- 
 quently have found faiety on the high grounds, after 
 having been defeated in the plains, it was therefore 
 natural that they fhould chufe fuch aiylums for ap- 
 proaching as near as poffible to heaven to reiurn 
 thanks or invoke future favors. Local divinities 
 were infenfibly fixed on the mountains, and to them 
 the blood of victims was offered, which had before 
 been refer ved for the fky. The invention of genii, 
 or the phantoms fo called, feems to have followed the 
 worfhip of the ftars and the firmament. 
 
 When Father le Comte maintained, in his Memoirs, 
 that the Chinefe had honored the Creator in the moft 
 ancient temple of the univerfe, the Sorbonne, alarmed 
 without reafon, condemned the afTertion *. Yet it 
 is difficult to conceive how the Sorbonne could pre- 
 tend to decide on that point ; becaufe it was merely 
 an hiitorical faSt every way unconnected with the re- 
 ligion of France. Hiftorians and philofophers mould 
 be allowed to judge of fuch opinions, and then it 
 would have foon appeared that the affertion of Father 
 le Comte was fabulous, and not heretical. In the 
 mod diftant ages the Chinefe had no temples, and 
 they facrificed, like the other Scythians of Afia, on 
 the mountains. As Mr. Leibnitz could not perceive 
 in all their books, written long after they became 
 
 * Cenftira facilitates tkeolog, Par'if. lata in propo/itiones rxcerptas 
 ex lllris : Memoirs on China Hiftory of the Edift of the Em- 
 peror Can-hi Letters on the Ceremonies of the Chinefe. 
 
 N 3 polimed,
 
 i8o PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 polifhed, the flighted trace of the creation of tfre 
 world, it is eafy to conceive what mud have been the 
 ftate of their ideas while they remained favages. 
 Their barbarifm was very great until the year out 
 thoufand one hundred and twenty-two before otfr 
 era, when a conqueror, called Voit-vang, at the head 
 .of two or three thoufand men, took pofiefiion of 
 China : he made fome laws, and endeavoured to fix 
 the inhabitants, who xvere ftill fond of an ambulatory 
 life, and frequently removed whole towns, confifting 
 of portable meds and tents. Their historical know- 
 ledge was then nothing more than fome tradition's 
 concerning the ancient Kan Fo-hi, whofe mother 
 conceived him miraculoufly ; he had no father, ac- 
 cording to the mythologies of China, who mufb 
 have copied this fable from the Scythians. They 
 Iike\vife pretended to be defendants of a girl, who 
 brought forth fupernaturally a child called Scytha, 
 according to Diodorus Siculus. Herodotus difputes 
 her virginity, and fufpects her having been connected 
 with Hercules, whofe name is never mentioned in 
 the fables of the Scythians. Both thofe authors, 
 however, agree on the monflrous figure of that 
 woman : her body below the breaft, fay they, refem- 
 bled a ferpent ; and the Chinefe pretend exactly the 
 fame thing of Fo-hi*. 
 
 * Father de Premare, who was indefatigable in his researches 
 concerning Chinefe mythology* informs us that an author named 
 Ven-tfc pretends that Fo-hi had the body of a ferpent ; <wilh regard 
 io his father, he adds,.. tLc Chinefe fay he had none, for his mother cor).. 
 etived Lim tuieafulou/Iy. Preliminary Difcourfe to the CLou-King. 
 
 The
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 181 
 
 The great analogy between thefe traditions proves 
 that they were taken from one fource ; and if we 
 obferve befides the conformity of the emblem of the 
 dragon carried by the Chinefe and Scythians on 
 their flandards, little doubt can remain of their 
 having originated from a common (lock. The lirft 
 flags of the Chinefe emperors, fixed like fails to their 
 chariots, fwelled in the wind in the fame manner with 
 thofe of the Scythians defcribed by Arriau *.. 
 
 It is faid that the firfr. religious fymbol invented by 
 the Chinefe was a tripod, or, to fpeak more intelli- 
 gibly, a great vafe fupported by three feet, and fur- 
 nifhed with two handles, fuch as are defcribed by 
 Homer, or in the verfes attributed to Hefiod. This 
 refemblance of the Chinefe tripod to that of Delphi 
 caii be accounted for only by adopting the tradition 
 fo common in ancient times, that the temple of 
 Delphi was founded by Scythians, named Hyperbo- 
 reans. They received that name from inhabiting to 
 the north of the mountains of Thrace, where the 
 fouthern Greeks had placed the fource of the wind 
 
 * This paflage is already indicated in the preface; we now i'n- 
 fert the Latin tranflation : 
 
 S'tgna Scytica funt Jracones convenient i longiludine pendtntes ex conth. 
 Flunt autem ex patwis inter fe eotifiitis, d'merfi-color'iltts, capite, rel'i- 
 quoque corpore omni ad caudam ufquejinal'tferpentiints ; in fpeciem max- 
 imeformidal'dcm, quantum potejl, injlruclo, Utuntur aniem bis fophif- 
 matilus ; quando quieti jiatit equi, till atupJius quam pannos vuleas di- 
 ver/i-cohres ad infentra dependcntes : quando tero currunt, injlati 
 /urge/cunt in tc,atum til ipfus qnoqite ft-ras fpecicf refei\:?;t. TACT. 
 
 N called
 
 1 8* PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 called Boreas ; and thus all the little nations beyond 
 Thrace were to them equally Hyperboreans. Others 
 towards the Alps and Pyrenees received alfo that epi- 
 thet, and it was they who mufl have facrifked afles, 
 and carried into Greece the firft olive plants, which 
 were certainly not brought from Sais in the Delta. 
 Even admitting that the Scythians really founded the 
 temple of Delphi, faid by Paufanias to have been 
 at firft a paltry hut, it worfhip was certainly altered 
 afterwards, and mixed with many Egyptian cuftoms. 
 The wolf, we find, was confecrated there to Apollo-j 
 exactly as in the great Lycopolitan prefeftory in 
 Thebais. 
 
 The ancient Chinefe, it appear?, were far from 
 being contented with one myfterious vafe ; for, by 
 degrees, they added eight others. To them was at- 
 tached the fate of the empire, divided at that time 
 into nine provinces, each of which had confequently 
 its own talifman. This whimfical fuperfHtion could 
 have originated only from the kettles firft employed 
 in boiling the victims ; and thofe of the Scythians, we 
 know, refemble ' except in fize, the bowls of Lefbos. 
 Afterwards the vafes themfelves were revered, becaufe 
 the genii or manitous, it was fuppofed, lodged there 
 to tafte the meat ; and the Chinefe, like all the 
 Tartars, offered them the flefh of horfes. Their 
 other victims were dogs, fwine, fowls, fheep, and 
 oxen : but fuch facrifices could no longer be conti- 
 nued when the emperors adhered ftridly to the reli- 
 gion of India, which does not, in any cafe, permit 
 
 3 the
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 1*3 
 
 the daughter of animals *. It is only fmce the efta- 
 blifhment of that worfhip that the Chinefe have 
 ceafed at times from butchering camels, cows, and 
 horfes ; yet the people eat them when they die of 
 old age, or even -of diftempers, as is the cafe every 
 day in Pek-in and Canton, without any meafures being 
 taken to prevent this abufe, which is fufficient to 
 occafion epidemical diforders. Extreme want would 
 feem to have made them furmount the natural averfion 
 of mankind to fuch food ; yet, while famine fre- 
 quently carries off great part of the populace in the 
 towns of China, the mandarins feaft on the nefts of 
 certain birds, on the tendons of deer, the fins of 
 marks, the feet of bears, Molucca mufhrooms, 
 fwalofs t and every thing they can imagine nioft grati- 
 fying to their tafte, 
 
 After the confecration of the nine myftical tripods, 
 a prinde, known by the name of Vou-yt?, erected ano- 
 ther idol reprefenting the genius of the fky with a 
 human form, as we find in a memoir fent by Father 
 A-miot to Mr. de Guignes f. This however feems 
 little probable, becaufe the ancient Scythians never 
 introduced flatues in their religious worfLip ; and our 
 fufpicions are increafed by the odd circumilances he re- 
 lates concerning that image. According to him, it was 
 an automaton employed to play at chefs or draughts 
 
 * During the reign of the emperor Kao-tfu no vitfims were 
 immolated at the great facritices. That prince ordered figures of 
 paftc to be fubfututed for animals ; but this cutlom, ftill more ad* 
 vantageous for the Chinefe than for the Indians, has fmce been, 
 aboliflied, and butchers are again employed at the facrifices. 
 
 f Inferted in the Qbfervations on the Chou-King, 
 
 N 4 with
 
 84 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATION'S. 
 
 with difgraced courtiers ; and whenever they failed 
 to win the game, as is generally the cafe, he adds, 
 they are mafiacred immediately. This ridiculous fa- 
 ble is founded perhaps on a cuftom fimilar to that 
 mentioned by Herodotus, as practifed by the Scythians 
 on thofe \vho were accufed of having fworn falfely 
 by the throne of their king. To be condemned, or 
 acquitted, they forced the augurs to play among 
 themfelves at a kind of divination by lot ; and thofq 
 xvho loft were inhumanly put to death, unleis they 
 all agreed that the perfon was culpable of the falfe 
 oath laid to his charge. Befides, we perceive in that 
 ufage the immolation of human victims, offered un- 
 der pretext of prolonging the lives of the kings \vhen 
 fick ; and fuch is the origin of thofe acts of felf-facri- 
 fice, of which fo many examples are cited in the 
 hiflory of China. 
 
 Among thofe people, properly called l/fedcm, fome 
 of whom inhabit to the fouth of the Oxus, and 
 others in the country of Igour, animal facrinces are 
 performed to anceftors, and offerings made to the 
 dead. The Chincfe at all periods practifed the fame 
 ceremony ; and they appear to have had their nrias 9 
 or places where they feed fouls, prior to their having 
 any temples. That fuperftition was an efiential point 
 of their rites and worihip ; but the great mourning 
 has very wifely been abolifiied by the Mandhui Tar- 
 tars *. It lafted three years, and during that time 
 
 * The Tartars have reduced the great mourning to fevcn clays j 
 but on their fide they have fallen into another excefs, by augment- 
 ing the expence of funerals, where they cat and drink like the 
 Scythians, and more particularly like the Gctae and the Ifledqns. 
 
 a fon
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS 'AND CHINESE. 185 
 
 & fon was obliged every day to place rice or flefii 
 meat before his deceafed father. No public affairs 
 could be tranfa&ed by the mourner ; and if he had 
 the misfortune to lofe his mother at the fame time, 
 the ceremony continued for fix years ; and if to this 
 fucceeded the death of an only child, or an elder 
 brother, the greater part of the perfon's life was fpent 
 in appearance of fadnefs and real inaction. Never 
 was any cuflom more pernicious and irkfome to fo- 
 ciety, or lefs neceffary for the dead. Such doleful 
 and fatiguing inftitutions have influenced fo ftrongly 
 the character of the Chinefe, that they are forced 
 againft their inclination to have recourfe to extrava- 
 gant tricks of every kind for momentary relief. It is 
 with moral as with phyfical diforders, contrary qua- 
 lities ferve alike in both to promote a cure. This fin- 
 gular difpofition has by degrees rilled the empire with 
 people who cannot be called comedians, for they are 
 really nothing more than rude buffoons, only capa- 
 ble of amufing men releafed from fix years of deep 
 mourning. What the Jefuits have written concern- 
 ing the regularity of the Chinefe theatres, has been 
 contradicted by modern travellers, fuch as Olbeck and 
 Torten, who are far from efleeming their farces. 
 M. de Bougainville, after having been prefent at fome 
 of their reprefentations, while at Batavia, contents 
 himfelf with faying, that he never wifhes to fee a^ain 
 any thing of the kind *. That judicious writer feems 
 
 to 
 
 * " Befides the principal pieces reprefented on the theatres, 
 clatter of houfes in the Chinefe quarter has a kind of ftage, 
 
 where
 
 ,? 9 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 to have obferved that the Chinefe cannot difpenfe with 
 their mountebanks ; and this neceffity arifes, as we 
 have faid, from the long duration of their gloomy 
 rites. They were not indeed always exactly the fame, 
 but the changes which have taken place tended lefs 
 to foften than increafe their feverity j for fuch is the 
 common courfe of fuperftitiori. 
 
 In former times no offerings were prefented to the 
 fmall tablets engraved with the names of the dead : 
 but a child was made to eat and drink in the name 
 of the manes, until he called out Pas, I am fatisfied, 
 and to this the facrincer anfvvered, Eat and drink 
 more *. It is difficult to imagine how a flriking re- 
 femblance could be found between this Chinefe in- 
 fant, and the cuflom of the Egyptians, who, at the 
 end of their joyous feafts, introduced the figure of a 
 dead perfon, and faid to their guefls, Drink and re* 
 joke now, for fuch mujlfoon be your fate alfo. An an- 
 cient poet has expreffed this maxim in a verfe too 
 well known to require repetition. In China we find 
 a funeral ceremony, a facrifice, and an interment : 
 while the Egyptians, on the contrary, invited their 
 friends to a great repaft for amufement only, as we 
 learn from Herodotus and Plutarch. Neither of thofe 
 
 where pantomimes and farces are played during the fairs. Bread 
 and public amufements y was the cry of the Roman people. Buffoon- 
 eries and 'commerce are every thing to the Chinefe." Voyage round 
 the World, vol. Ji. 
 
 * Father du Haldc mentions that cuflom in his Defcrlptton of 
 Ckina ; and he was not aware, moft probably, that it would be ad- 
 duced as a proof of affinity with the Egyptians. 
 
 tWO
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. }3 7 
 
 two authors ever thought of infmuating that the feaft 
 was celebrated in the prefence of the mummies, or 
 the embalmed bodies of their anceftors. The dead 
 todies in Egypt were immediately committed to the 
 vaults, unlefs when fome impediment took place 
 either from the law, or on the part of the creditors; 
 and a kind of infamy was /.I ways attached to thofe 
 \vho were prevented from burying their parents. 
 Befides, no connexion whatever can be difcerned be- 
 fvveen a little ftatue of wood, representing death, and 
 Chinefe children in good health, who ate and drank 
 in the name of the corpfe of their father or mother. 
 
 Thus all the conformities hitherto imagined in this 
 matter are of the fame nature with thofe which have 
 led Mr. Huet to believe that Mofes was Adonis, or 
 Jacob Typhon, according to Mr. Fourmont ; while 
 Croefe fees nothing more clearly than that the per- 
 fonages in the Bible are the heroes of Homer, and 3. 
 thoufand circumftances in his opinion prove, that 
 Ulyfles and the nymph Calypfo were Lot and hi* 
 daughters. 
 
 What has been already faid concerning the reli- 
 gion of the Chinefe is fufficient to prove, that it dif- 
 fers in every point from that of the Egyptians, and 
 the fame diflimilarity is fo evident in their rites, that 
 nothing but blindnefs and obflinacy can prevent its 
 being perceived and confuted. No human body has 
 ever been opened in China with the idea of convert- 
 ing it into a mummy ; and all pradices relative to 
 the art of embalming are there entirely unknown. 
 The dogmas of the two nations, concerning the future 
 
 flats
 
 , PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 (late of the foul, are equally irreconcilable ; for the 
 Chinefe, fo far from admitting the amenthes of the 
 Egyptians, never heard of either purgatory or para- 
 dife, in all their canonical books or kings. On that 
 account fo many miflionaries and others have con- 
 itantly confidered them as difbelieving the immorta- 
 lity of the foul, -without reflecting that the offerings 
 made to the dead contradict in the flrongeft manner 
 that opinion. But, in truth, the Chinefe can form 
 no idea of any place of captivity for fouls ; and they 
 fuppofe them transformed into manitous, or kuei-chin, 
 and preferring to a certain degree the liberty of rain*. 
 bling *. 
 
 We find fome light thrown on this matter by a 
 ientence pronounced in China againft two Jefuits who 
 preached the dogmas of the Catholic religion, after 
 it had been prohibited by an edict. Thefe bonzes, it 
 proceeds, by inculcating a doctrine containing various 
 ts en life, death, par a dife, hdl, and other falfe hoods 
 of that 'nature, have deceived many people. Conform- 
 ably to the laws of 'the empire, thefe bonzes have there* 
 fere 'merited death. On this the grand criminal tri- 
 bunal marked on the fentence, let them be Jlr angled -\. 
 
 * We do not fpeak here of the Chinefe people, who, following 
 the religion of India, believe in the tranfmigration of foul>, the 
 fyftem moft generally adopted. 
 
 ' The ancient doctrine of China, which fuppofer. that fouls be- 
 come manitous, or tuei-cb'm t excludes entirely future pains and 
 rewards : for thefe manitous are liable to be persecuted by the 
 bad genii, to whom the Chinefe give a name conveying nearly 
 the feme idea as our word demons. 
 
 f This featehce fs citrgft'edTrom the Leitrcs
 
 Otf THE EGYPTIANS AN> CHINESE. *2$ 
 
 Thofe, \vho palled this fanguinary decree, had no 
 experience in human affairs. The Marquis Beccaria 
 obferves very juflly, in his Treatife on Faults and Pe- 
 rialties, that corporal and painful ch'dftifements mould 
 never be inflicted on fanatics, whole crime proceeds 
 from pride, and that paffion is gratified by fufferings. 
 Infamy and ridicule, according to him, are the only 
 means to be employed with fuch perfons ; but to con- 
 fine them is perhaps Mill inore effectual. 
 
 Thcfe, who pronounced the Chinefe fentence al- 
 ready cited, confidered as chimerical the places were 
 fouls were fuppofed to be fhut up, either for punifti- 
 ment or recompence. But they do not explain there in 
 fcny manner their own opinions, which are neither the 
 fublimeft nor the moft reafonable. Human fouls, ac- 
 cording to them, are compofed of two fubflances j 
 that by which they feel defcends to the earth at death ; 
 but the other is the fource of thought, and inhabits 
 the (ky or the middle regions of the air. Thofe two 
 parts are fuppofed to be fo much affected by the piety 
 and devotion of the facrifices to the dead, that they 
 re-unite to partake of the offerings deflined for their 
 life. The vifible afliftants however take care to have 
 the bed portion, like the Laplanders, who devour 
 the flefli of the victims, and afterwards prefent the 
 bones to the gods. 
 
 This ftrange fyftem cannot be combined in any 
 tnanner with the doctrine of paradife or hell, whence 
 it is impoffible for fouls to efcape fo readily at the 
 fight of a plate of rice, or flefh-meat, offered by the 
 We therefore perceive clearly the real 
 
 meaning
 
 1 9 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 meaning of the judgment pronounced againft the two 
 miffionaries ; and it is far from proving, as fome have 
 hitherto fo obftinately maintained, that the Chinefe 
 deny the immortality of the foul. Even their men 
 of letters have frequently taken the greater! pains to 
 raife the fpirit of Confucius, whofe hiftory is very 
 obfcure, and confidered by many learned men as no- 
 thing more than a collection of Chinefe fables, to 
 which filly miffionaries have added their own. Father 
 Martini relates feriouily, that one day it was told to 
 this pietended philofopher, that the hunters had kill- 
 ed a very uncommon animal, fomewhat refembling 
 a lamb : on this he began to weep bitterly, exclaim- 
 ing in his great grief, that he now forefaw the fhort 
 duration of his doctrine. This Iamb 3 as we perceive, 
 mufl have been a monfter produced in the brain of 
 fome mifiionary : but even the difciples of Confucius 
 are faid to attefl that the ghoft of a man named 
 Tcbea&kong, who was then dead upwards of fix hun- 
 dred years, appeared every night to their mailer. 
 His mind feems befides to have been ftrongly infect- 
 ed with numerous fuperflitions concerning forcery, 
 or divination with rods, as we fee by his interpreta- 
 tion of the fable of the T-kin^ which bears more 
 figns of authenticity than any other of his fuppofed 
 productions. 
 
 It is necefiary here to ftate as clearly as poffible the 
 expreffions of Mr. Vifdelou, becaufe they are of the 
 utmoft importance, and feem altogether decifive. 
 
 Confucius not only approved of forcery, but even 
 taught- in exprefs terms how to obtain predictions ; and 
 
 certainly
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. l<ji 
 
 certainly, that practice has proceeded entirely from Us fug- 
 gejtions in the Commentary on ihe T-king. Bejldes, Tfo* 
 kieou-mingi a difdple of Confucius, wbofeleffons he copied in 
 bis Commentaries on the Canonical Annals ^ has infertedfo 
 many examples offorcery that they are difgufting. Events 
 ihere correfpond fo exactly with predictions, that 9 if he 
 is tobs believed, they were really fo many miracles. All 
 the Chinefe philofophers until this day vfe fuchfpells, by 
 means of which they pretend to be capable of predicting 
 every thing, Injhort, they all adhere to the Book of For- 
 tune*. 
 
 Mr Vifdelou, who has furnlfhed us with the r e ex- 
 plications, was much better verfed in the Chinefe 
 language and literature than Father Gaubil, who 
 could not tranflate the Chou-King, without the aflift- 
 ance of a Tartan copy. Vifdelou, on the contrary, 
 received an imperial certificate, acknowledging him 
 to be a very learned manf; and as he could read 
 the Chinefe characters fluently, his teftimony is here 
 very material. It was only from adopting the com- 
 tnon cant of other writers, that he gave the name of 
 philofophers to the literati in China, who, corrupted 
 by the doctrine of Confucius, pretend to prophefy 
 through rhabdomancy. The grofs fuperftitions of 
 
 * Notice of the T-king. 
 
 f The imperial certificate, given to Mr. Vifdelou, was a piece 
 of fatin containing thefe words : " We acknowledge that this 
 man, who comes from Europe, is higher in the knowledge and 
 fcience of our Chinefe characters than the clouds above our heads, 
 and that he is more profound in euridition and penetration, than 
 the abyffes over which \ve walk." This filly jargon fignilied no- 
 thing elfe than that the bearer knew how to read and write the 
 Chinefe language. 
 
 thofe
 
 19 i PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 thofe men betray fo much weaknefs and ignorance; 
 that they cannot be excufed, even in the eyes of thofe 
 who have carried their prepofleffions to the greateffc 
 length in favor of China. Mr. de Guignes, having 
 quoted a paffage of Eufeblus, concerning the inha- 
 bitants of Sericum, adds, that the eulogy given of 
 thofe people was exaggeration, in the fame manner y 
 continues he, that we now beftow fo many extravagant 
 encomiums en the Chinefe. The lofs of time is not the 
 only injury the reader has to fuffer from hiftorical 
 fables, which are the fource of frequent errors, al- 
 though fometimes not more confident than the 
 dreams of thole who deep in peace. Nothing how- 
 ever can difhearten me in citing facts, and pointing 
 out confequences ; becaufe that method alone cari 
 difpel all the falfe ideas, introduced into Europe con- 
 cerning the Chinefe by fo many travellers, from 
 Marc Paul down to Father Bouvet. The latter wrote 
 a panegyric on the emperor Can-hi in the legendary 
 ftyle, and compofed of nearly the fame fluff" with thi 
 account given by Martini of Confucius, who repeated 
 inceflantly, fays he, that a faint ivoitld appear In thf 
 Weft *. If we are to believe fome hiftorians, who 
 write like children, thofe' words produced very woni 
 derful confequences, by ferving to introduce the re- 
 ligion of India into China. Thofe, however, who 
 
 MdrtJrtf, Hift. Sinenfis, lib. iv. Kla-yu is a kind of hiftory of 
 Confucius, which even the literati of China confider as a merd 
 romance. Yet we could wifli to have it translated, in order to fee 
 how far it fuggeded thofe prodigies, which the miiTionaries relate 
 concerning Confucius.- 
 
 examined
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHL\ 7 ESE. 193 
 
 i 
 
 examined better the date of things, have perceived 
 that a new worfhip, more conne&ed than that of the 
 ancient favages of Scythia, became indifpenfably ne- 
 cefTary in China. At all events thofe miffionaries 
 cannot be juftified, who difhpnored their judgment 
 and profeffion by maintaining, that Confucius pro- 
 phefied the coming of the Meffiah, by the table of 
 fortune and his magical rods *. 
 
 By fuppofmg for an inftant, that the words attri* 
 buted to Confucius were really his, the true mean- 
 ing could only be traced to the converfation he is faid 
 to have held with Lao-khan^ who travelled, it would 
 appear, in India and Thibet, where he mud have 
 feen the grand lama. What we call at this day the 
 feet of Lao-klum is nothing but the lamic vvorfhip 
 fomewhat disfigured, or the feel: of the immortals 
 mentioned by feveral Greek authors. They tell us, 
 that, in their time, among the Thracians and Scy- 
 thians, monadic orders, or religious congregations, 
 were formed by people who never married, and in, 
 faft differed nothing from the bonzes of Lao-kium^ 
 generally called Tao-Jfe, or the immortals. 
 
 Thus the pretentcd faint, believed by Confucius to 
 be in the Weil, was feme celebrated fakir of India, 
 or the grand lama himielf. It ii not probable that 
 
 * Father Couplet certainly intended to denote the Meffiah in his 
 book on the. Chinefe Sciences, where he ir.akes Confucius ufe the 
 ieltowing words : Ex^eSandum eft quoad - :"modi vir fumme 
 
 farcins ; ac turn demum Jfisrari fo.'ef? /.. virtus illo ducf 
 
 or mQg'iftro in aSum prodcat . Such do not deferve to be 
 
 confidered ferioufly. 
 
 VOL. ii. he
 
 iH PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 he fhould have alluded to any of thofe perfonages 
 called in Europe the Scythian philofophers, fuch as 
 Zamoixes, Zeutos, Abaris, Diceneus, and Taxoras. 
 Amcharfis feems to have been later, if it be true 
 that he was cotemporary with Solon, and even with 
 Confucius, whofe chief maxims are certainly very 
 fimilar to what Stanley, in his collection, attributes to 
 Anacharfis *. The other philofophers of Scythia are 
 little known ; and we only underfland that they 
 taught morality, and the cultivation of fome aliment- 
 ary grains which grew wild in their country. Many 
 plants of that kind are flill found in a natural (late 
 between the fortieth and fifty-fecond degree of north 
 latitude on our ancient continent. The origin of 
 agriculture among the Scythians was enveloped in 
 various fables ; and thofe who inhabited near the 
 Borifthenes contented themfelves with faying, that 
 one day a golden plough fell from heaven into their 
 country. This fiction is not difficult to be interpret- 
 ed, and it difcovers more ingenuity than the great 
 golden chain of the Grecian mythologifts. 
 
 According to fome difcoveries, the name of Con- 
 fucius did not become very celebrated in China un- 
 til about twelve hundred years after the reputed time 
 of his birth. It was in the eighth century of our 
 era, that the emperor Hiven-tfong gave him the name 
 
 * Hift. Philof. part j. Anacharfis recommended moderation, 
 which amounted nearly to the perfed medium of Confucius. The 
 fame thing has been faid by the men of every country ; and bc- 
 fides, the maxims generally attributed to Anacharfis, were perhaps 
 compofed by fome other perfon. 
 
 of
 
 ON 'THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 195 
 
 x>f -King* of Letters ; but he loft that vain and bom- 
 "baftic title under the dyriafty of Ming*. From this 
 we might be led to believe that the emperor Hiven- 
 tfong was a well-informed and equitable prince, who 
 wHhed to honor merit and encourage virtue. But, 
 on the contrary, he embrued his hands in the blood 
 of his own children, and difcovered himfelf to be 
 vile and defpi cable in every thing. He was notori- 
 oufly addicted to the fuperftition of Tao-Jfe, and go- 
 verned by eunuchs, who rilled the empire with rob- 
 bers, and occafioned the mod dreadful excefles. 
 
 It is not improbable that about this time of fana- 
 tifm and trouble the religious worfhip of Confucius 
 became predominant in fome provinces, while 
 in others it was entirely unknown. At lead the 
 Arabs, who then travelled into China, do not feem 
 to have had much information concerning it ; and 
 they tell us pofitively, that the Chinefe had not 
 begun to apply themfelves to the fciences, and that 
 they were much inferior to the Indians f. This is 
 really true, even at the prefent moment, as far as it 
 concerns aftronomy ; for the Bramins in our days 
 have determined with fome exa&nefs the time when 
 Venus was to pafs the difc of the fun ; which is more 
 than any of the literati of China were capable of do- 
 
 * Confucius was divcfted of this title about the year 1384; and 
 fome hiftorians believe that he was not called King of Letters, un- 
 til he received that name in the year .952, from the emperor Tal- 
 *feu. 
 
 f -Ancient Accounts of India and China, publifhed by Re- 
 naudot. 
 
 o 2 ing,
 
 igS PHILOSOPHICAL DISSKRTAT' 
 
 Ing. Neither did that country, as the Arabs juftly 
 obferved, begin to have fchools ; and about the year 
 one thoufand three hundred and eighty-four of our 
 era, they were firft built by the emperor Taeffu, 
 founder of the dynaily of Ming. That adventurer, 
 a man of low birth, who had been cook or fervant 
 in a convent of monks, then thief, and afterwards a 
 leader of banditti, ended his career by becoming 
 one of the greateft princes ever known in China. 
 But the colleges which he creeled foon fell into ruins, 
 and the revenues attached to them were likewife dif- 
 fipated, as we learn from a Chinefe author who 
 wrote under the prefent dynafty of the Mandhui 
 Tartars. After having flated feveral caufes of that 
 fhamefui decline, he adds, that the wife regulations of 
 the emperor Tae/fii, for eftablijhing fchools in the country 
 as 'well as in the towns, were very much neglecled ; and 
 Father Trigault allures us, that not one remained 
 \vhen he vifitcd China f . 
 
 The novelty of the religious worfhip paid to Con- 
 fucius is apparent from its ceremonies, as well as the 
 form of the facred veflels employed therein, and the 
 ornaments of the tabernacle and altar. All thefe 
 things are copied after the ritual of the Indian pago- 
 
 f Expedit. apud Sinas, lib. J. NJeuhof algemeene Befchry- 
 ving van't Ryk Sina. The want of public fchools makes it necef- 
 fary to employ private matters ; and the Chiaefe author we have 
 .>bferves very jullly, that the poor cannot afford the expence- 
 Ignorance is therefore perpetuated in fuch families ; 'and the rich 
 alone are in poffcflion of thofe places which require a certain 
 knowledge of the characters and canonical books. 
 
 das,
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. j 97 
 
 , and the practices of the bonzes of Fo, except 
 perhaps the immolation of animals. The latter feeins 
 to have been introduced by the men of letters them- 
 felves, as well as the childifh culiom of proving the 
 victims with warm wine. 
 
 It would be ufelefs to examine here whether or not 
 the Jefuits in China approved of the folemn facrifices 
 offered to Confucius during the equinoxes j but they 
 Certainly condemned them highly in Europe. The 
 reafon they affigned was their marked affinity with 
 the fuperflitions of India, which could not be tole- 
 rated, fays Father le Comte, without fcandal, and 
 danger of fubverfion *. Whence it neceflarily fol- 
 lows, that, previous to the eftablifhment of the Indian 
 religion in China, the worfhip of Confucius was very 
 far from being the fame as now ; and no traces of it 
 are found in any age anterior to our era. Some even 
 pretend, that the emperor Schi-chuan-di committed 
 to the flames all the works of this man, who wrote, 
 Or rather etched, on pieces of wood filed together on 
 cords, Thole mingles muft have loaded feveral carts, 
 had they contained all the writings now publimed in 
 the name of Confucius. Yet nothing tends to prove 
 that he is the author even of the Tchun-tfciecit, or 
 Spring and autumn, the (hortefi and mod interefting 
 of all his fuppofcd productions. It is placed among 
 the number of the kings ; but no perfon knows with 
 
 * The Jefuits condemned the folemn facrifices made to Confu- 
 cius ; and they approved of others lefs folemn. Refponfuna Epif- 
 copi Beritenfis ad Cardinalem Marefcottum, &c. 
 
 o 3 any
 
 19* ' PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 any certainty by whom that chronicle was com- 
 piled *. 
 
 We have already obferved, with regard to the 
 burning of the books by Schi-cbuan-di^ that the facl: 
 was not only doubted by fome critics, but even the 
 motives affigned for it feem inefficient. The bar- 
 barian, it is faid, was mortified by the praifes be- 
 flowed on monarchs who were dead upwards of one 
 thoufand years. It would be exactly the fame thing 
 to reprefent the king of Spain as envious of the pa- 
 negyrics invented by fome fools in Caflile for Tubal 
 Cain ; who having paffed the Straits of Gibraltar on 
 his anvil, reigned glorioufly over all the countries 
 beyond the Pyrenees ; and his name is ftill inferted 
 as the firft of the Spanifh kings. 
 
 Others pretend, that Schi-chuan-di caufed all the 
 writings of Confucius to be deftroyed, becaufe he 
 thought they favored feudal government, which is the 
 worfl of all, except defpotifm. But perhaps in the 
 whole world no works can be found more calculated 
 for arbitrary fway than thofe publimed in his name. 
 They require a blind fubmifiion to the caprices of the 
 prince, without condemning paternal power degene- 
 rated into tyranny or political ilavery, perfonal fer- 
 vitude, polygamy, confinement of women, or the 
 cuftom of felling children. Thus, fo far from hav- 
 ing any juft notions of morality, he was ignorant of 
 all the principles of natural right j or elfe thofe who 
 
 * Some of the Chinefe literati do not count this chronicle 
 among the canonical books, but merely as little fragments of the 
 Yo-lmg+ 
 
 forged
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. i ?9 
 
 forged his fuppofed books, were fuch wretched com- 
 pilers, that, as Thomafms obferves, it is impofiible 
 to read fome paflages ferioufly *. The many com- 
 mon-place maxims they contain required no extent 
 of genius ; for moral fentences of the fame kind 
 have been common among all the nations of the an- 
 cient continent, if we except fome few hordes of 
 men, who, little better than favages, conducted them- 
 felves chiefly by inftincl. But the morality of the 
 Chinefe is entirely fpeculative, and their difhonefty 
 in commerce fo great, that no gold or filver money 
 can be trufted in their hands, and they adulterate 
 even that of copper. 
 
 When the difputes in Europe concerning the cere- 
 monies of China, were conducted with that atrp- 
 cious fury called theological hatred, which changes 
 men into tygers, it was afferted that the literati in 
 China were atheifts in theory, and idolaters in prac- 
 tice. Yet the mind of man, with all its extravagan- 
 cies, cannot be fuppofed capable of reconciling fo 
 great a contradiction. The men of letters in China 
 do not certainly believe the foul of Confucius to be 
 the Divinity. Thus, their days of fading, their fa* 
 crifices, and all the ridiculous practices they have 
 borrowed from the bonzes of Fo, prove evidently 
 their fuperflition, but not their idolatry. 
 
 Real philofophers would endeavour to honor the 
 memory of Confucius by rendering themfelves more 
 virtuous, and not by fhedding the blood of victims. . 
 
 t Penfe.ee fur Ics Livrcs nouveauy, a 1'au 1689. 
 
 o' 4 The
 
 io PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 The great Newton, who could not endure to fee tfae 
 death of a chicken or a Iamb, would have been very 
 far from affifting at their facrifices in fpring and au- 
 tumn. Superftition character ifes equally the lefs fo- 
 lemn ceremonies, which take place nearly twice in 
 each lunary month, and inflead of having any con- 
 nexion with philofophy, they are dedicated to the 
 prediction of future events. 
 
 If the French nation, refolving to reverence in a 
 very extraordinary manner the memory of Defcartes, 
 fhould introduce the monkifh practices of the Minims 
 and Carmelites, they would no longer be regarded 
 as wife men, but as filly people, worthy of the greateft 
 'contempt. Yet the literati of China have undoubt- 
 edly copied their ceremonies from thofe of the monks, 
 and like them they fail in preparing for their facri- 
 fices. Mr. Jackfon, after examining why the Chinefe 
 have no myfteries or initiations, like the Egyptians, 
 Greeks, and Romans, concludes that nothing of the 
 kind was neceffary with them, becaufe they never 
 deified men"*. He imagined that nothing more was 
 revealed en thofe occaiions, than that the gods of 
 paganifm had been mortals : but that fuppofition 
 being falfe, the reafon alleged by him vanifhes ; and 
 if capable of proving any thing, it would be exactly 
 the contrary of what he intended. 
 
 By reading "attentively the Pantheon of Mr. Ja- 
 blonfld, whofe refearches have been carried as far as 
 poifible, it will be feen that the Egyptians never ren- 
 
 * Ghrtmohsg-ical Antiquities, at the atftick China. 
 
 tiered
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 
 
 tiered to any man, living or dead, fuch fufpicious 
 honors as the Chinefe did to Confucius. Hence it 
 follows, that in China myfteries were more necefiary 
 than in any other place, to preferve the human mind 
 from the abyfs into which it might be drawn by the 
 appearances of public \vorfhip. If \ve are to believe 
 the miffionaries, fuch abufes have in reality been car- 
 ried to the greateft length; and we know the famous 
 decree publifhed by Cardinal de Tournon at Nankin*. 
 But here we are not to reafon after the ideas either 
 of iniflionaries or cardinals ; and it is fufficient to 
 obferve, that, if not the flighted trace of initia- 
 tions has ever been known among the Chinefe, it is 
 an additional proof that they never had any commu- 
 nication with the Egyptians, who, according to War- 
 burton himfelf, were the inventors of thofe ceremo- 
 nies. 
 
 Although Fo or Budba has preached, as is well 
 known, a double doctrine, we do not find that the 
 bonzes of China ever took advantage of it to eftablifh 
 myfteries. They follow almoft generally, at this day, 
 the exterior or fymbolical worfhip ; and it is only 
 among the fakirs of India, that Tome fe"c"htcrs are 
 found of the internal doctrine, in which certain ig- 
 norant travellers and miffionaries fancied they fa\v 
 all the principles of Spinofa. But no fyltem v/as 
 
 * The third article of this decree condemns as deteftable ido- 
 latry the worfhip paid by the literati to Confucius. But were 
 the Chinefe to pronounce entirely from appearances on what paCes 
 in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, they would probably think of ifitf- 
 ing a decree likcwife tothe-fame-eff(^^ ; tHja-t>f -Tcfuraon. 
 
 ever
 
 a0 * PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 ever more contrary to atheifm than that of Eudha ; 
 and were this fad not univerfally admitted at the 
 prefent day, we might be tempted to demonftrate it 
 mod evidently. That Indian who corrupted the an- 
 cient dogmas of his country, was an auftere fanatic : 
 he overflrained every thing, and rendered virtue ri- 
 diculous. It was not only neceflary, according to 
 him, to deftroy the paffions, but even the fenfes ; 
 and he ordered his difciples to confine their thoughts 
 folely to the Divinity, keeping their bodies in con- 
 tinual repofe, and their minds in condant medita- 
 tion. 
 
 The vain pretext of attaining a flate of tranquil- 
 lity, entirely oppofite to the nature of man, and even 
 of beads, filled China at length with a multitude of 
 monks. The greated impoftors, and mod cunning 
 of thefe intriguers, obtained fixed edablifhments in 
 the bed provinces, while the others wandered about 
 begging or robbing the people. The abufe became 
 fo general, that complaints were carried to the throne 
 of the emperor, who was a prince born with the 
 lowed fentiments, and whofe weaknefs approached 
 to idiotifm. Indead of relieving his fubjects by de- 
 ftroying the diforder in the bud, he declared himfelf 
 publicly in favor of the bonzes and bonzefles of Fo, 
 who ever fince the beginning of the fourth century 
 fuppofed themfelves capable of contending with the 
 adherents of Lao-kium. This fpirit of rivalihip was 
 the fource of many crimes, of which only the fmalled 
 part are known in Europe : both parties had recourfe 
 to intrigues, invectives, and libels. The monks of 
 
 Fo
 
 OU THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 2aj 
 
 are faid to have caufed more than five thoufand 
 volumes to be written in their name, either to juftify 
 their rules and dodrine, or in defending themfelves 
 againil calumnies, and abufing others. They always 
 reprefented to the government, that as the empire 
 had no priefts, the people could not difpenfe with 
 monks ; and they held forth that hofpitality was con- 
 fined to their pagodas, when that virtue became more 
 necefiary from the wretched flate of the inns. 
 Travellers, they alleged, could gain admittance at 
 every hour into their monafleries ; and even ambaf- 
 fadors had frequently lodged there ; becaufe cong- 
 qiian^ or public -houfes, were not creeled in all the 
 towns, or had fallen, as frequently happens, into 
 ruin. 
 
 The inns are indeed beyond comparifon more 
 paltry in China than even in Spain and Portugal * ; 
 but the bonzes had no right to remedy one great 
 abufe by another, flill more enormous. The Jefuits 
 pretend, that no perfon can pafs a night with fafety 
 in the bonzeries j and yet we find by their own ac- 
 counts, that they frequently lodged there, without 
 our ever having heard the number of thofe who were 
 robbed or aflailinated. : 
 
 * Some of thefe inns appear better furnifhed than others ; but they are 
 all exceedingly wretched* They c onjljl vf four earthen walls without 
 
 plafler, which fujlain a roof where the rafters are vifible. After all, 
 it is fortunate if this covering le weatherproof. The chambers are 
 
 fometimes full of holes ; and dtjlitute of even a common pavement. Du 
 Halde's Defcription of China. Such are the beft hotels in 
 China : the others, in the centre of the provinces, arc too bad 
 to admit of any comparifon. 
 
 The
 
 i04- PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 The pofleffions, as well as the credit of the monks of 
 Fo,wcrt confiderably augmented by an edict of the em- 
 peror Ven4i y who declared himfelf their protector ; but 
 ftill more by the culpable conduct of the emperor 
 Kao-tfou. Having efcaped from his palace, he was 
 foon after found in an hermitage, or bonzery of the 
 fecond rank, where he began by {having his head, 
 and ended by embracing all the rules of Fo. This 
 filly prince was afterwards brought back to court 5 
 but his folly remained incurable. 
 
 As the northern parts of China were then governed 
 by particular princes, the monks found mere diffi- 
 culty in fixing themfelves there than in the fouth, 
 where the fertility of the foil being greater, and phyfi- 
 cal wants fewer, the people could give way to their 
 more exalted enthufiafm, in providing them with 
 food and clothing. All at once the refolution was 
 taken throughout the northern provinces of deftroy- 
 ing the whole of their convents, forne of which, like 
 that called Tong-cben^ or perpetual peace, contained 
 upwards of a thoufand perfons. In fhort, all the 
 bonzeries there were reduced to afhes about the year 
 five hundred and fifty-feven of our era ; but no mea- 
 fures were taken to prevent them from being rebuilt j 
 and they re-appeared foon after. 
 
 This florin in the north had not fubfided more 
 than fixty-nine years, when another arofe in the 
 very court of the emperor Tao-fi, who, owing to the 
 wretched ftate of population, could no longer re- 
 cruit his armies. The bonzes of Lao-khtm, who di-- 
 re cted that prince, confidered the moment as very 
 
 favorable
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. as 
 
 favorable for ruining the monks of Fo ; and they 
 advifed Taoti to carry off from the convents one 
 hundred thoufand men, and force them to marry in 
 .defpite of their vow of chaftity. That advice pro- 
 duced an edicl: on the twenty-fixth of May, in the 
 year fix hundred and twenty-fix, which reduced al- 
 mofl to nothing the number of pagodas and mo- 
 nafteries, calledyij/z in China. But as the impofi- 
 tions of the monks of Lao-kium had dictated that 
 edicl, the intrigues of the monks of Fo occafioned 
 its repeal forty-two days afterwards, to the fhame of 
 .the prince and his minifters. 
 
 The weak emperor Tao-ti was replaced on the 
 throne by Tai-tfong, who, far from diminifhing the 
 number of bonzes and bonzefles, received into his 
 ftates certain devout ftrangers, fuppofed by fome to 
 have been Neftorians. Their eftablifhment in the 
 province of Chen-fi caufed for a time the hatred and 
 jealoufies of the monaftic orders in China to ceafe ; 
 and they united to exterminate thefe pretended Nef- 
 torians. Their pagodas were levelled to the ground, 
 and their adherents cruelly perfecuted until the 
 reign of the emperor Hfaen tfong, who finding him- 
 felf attacked in the centre of his dominions by robbers, 
 and on the frontiers by the Tartars, not only pro- 
 te&ed the different feds, but even favored the fol- 
 lowers of Confucius. 
 
 The conduct of the Chinefe hitherto difcovers 
 neither rule nor plan for delivering themfelves from 
 the bonzes, who, inftead of being reformed, were 
 attacked fuddenty like enemies, and afterwards re- 
 ceived into favor. Much of their property was 
 
 taken
 
 zcS PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 taken away at certain times, and more reftored to 
 them at others. In this manner they fluctuated be- 
 tween extremes with an inconftancy only equalled, 
 perhaps, by the facts we are about to relate. 
 
 As the police was then exceedingly neglected, a 
 new order of Seng, or ftrange monks, found means 
 to introduce themfelves into the empire. They are 
 taken by fome for Lamas, and by others for Mani- 
 cheans, who had formed themfelves into a congre- 
 gation * ; but, at all events, they were included in 
 the profcription of the emperor Wou-tfong. When 
 we know that he had placed his confidence in the 
 monks of Lao-kium, it can no longer appear furprifing, 
 that thofe avaricious fanatics mould have taken ad- 
 vantage of that inftant of favor, to crufh their rivals, 
 and exterminate them altogether. 
 
 Tchao-kouey, who was prelate, or chief, of the order 
 of Lao-kium, promifed to procure the drink of im- 
 mortality for the emperor, if he would iffue an edict 
 againft the monks of Fo, or Che-kia. The prince 
 took the potion, and figned the decree, on the feventh 
 of Auguft, in the year eight hundred and forty- five 
 of our era. This occafjoned the deftruction of four 
 thoufand fix hundred principal monafleries, which 
 contained two hundred and eighty thoufand monks 
 and nuns, whom the magistrates reftored to the 
 flate, and fubjected to the poll-tax, from which they 
 had withdrawn themfelves fraudulently, at the ex- 
 pence of the people. The number of monafleries of 
 
 * Father Pons fays, that India contains hermits, or monks, called 
 Mount ; and it appears that this word has been confounded with 
 Matti, which is fometimes ufcd in Afia to denote, the Manicheans. 
 
 the
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 207 
 
 the fecond rank, condemned to the fame fate, amounted 
 to forty thoufand, pofieffing one hundred and fifty 
 thoufand flaves, and about one million tching of free- 
 hold lands. All thefe were confifcated by the em- 
 peror, and added to his domain, without examining 
 how they had been acquired ; for he concluded every 
 thing found there muft be ufurped property *. 
 
 The order of Fo became fo completely annihi- 
 lated, that the feclaries of Lao-kium publifhed their 
 triumph in canticles of joy to Heaven for fuch 
 remarkable favor. But the intriguers of the court, 
 the women, and the eunuchs, prevailed in having the 
 edict modified feven or eight days after it had been 
 ifiued. The emperor allowed four or five hundred 
 monks of Fo to remain in his dominions ; but all the 
 reft were dragged ignominioufly from their convents. 
 Not a ruin of all thofe buildings was allowed to re- 
 main, and the clocks were converted into money, 
 which was as fcarce as mifery was common. China 
 then prefented only the madow of an empire, and it 
 deferved the title of the land of abufes. This re- 
 form, fo very defirable, continued to be executed 
 with fuccefs, when the emperor Wou-t/bng, under 
 whom it had commenced, expired, moft probably by 
 the drink of immortality he had the weaknefs to 
 fwallow. Suen-tfong, who fucceeded to the throne, 
 had ideas very different from thofe of his prede- 
 cefibr ; and he protected the monks of Fo againft 
 
 * If the number of monafteries then exifting in China be exagge- 
 rated, it does not proceed from the tranflators. The Chinefe text 
 fays four onan of fou, which makes forty thoufand convents of 
 the fecond order. 
 
 thofe
 
 oS PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 thofe of Lao-kiiem. Thus that order, which feemed 
 to have been deftroyed, rofe again fuddenly, and be- 
 came more infolent and pernicious to the (late than 
 ever. The prelate Tchao-kouey, the author of the 
 revolution, was hung or flrangied without any for. 
 mality; and the emperor condemned nine or ten 
 more of the followers of Lao-kium to a funilar 
 deftiny. 
 
 Thus, in four hundred' and forty-feven, only two 
 years after the refolution had been taken of relieving 
 the people by diicharging a multitude of drones, an 
 imperial edict was iifued for rebuilding all the con- 
 vents and pagodas deftroyed in the preceding reign. 
 The emperor then enjoined the tribunals to allow all 
 thofe of both fexes, who prefented themfelves for 
 that purpofe, to embrace the order of Fo, or Che- 
 kia. Such has been the flrange, whimfical, and in- 
 conceivable conduct of the government of China, 
 That country is now afflicted more than ever with 
 the greateft of all plagues ; and no hope remains of 
 any fortunate change, unlefs the men of letters apply 
 themfelves to true fcience with more ardor and fuc- 
 cefs. In fact, it is only by fpreading the light of 
 phiiofophy, that the darknefa of fuperftition can be 
 difpelled ; and all attempts to deftroy the bonzes, 
 while ignorance prevails, are contradictory. Thofe 
 men, who,., having efcaped amidfl fo many tempeils, 
 furvive as it were even deftruction, would difappear 
 gradually at the dawn of fcience. This is fo true, 
 that when a prince of Japan founded fchools, an4 
 invited the learned into his dominions, the monks 
 
 were
 
 6N THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. zbj 
 
 feen deferting in whole troops from a country, 
 where they began to ftarve, becaufe the people be- 
 came enlightened. Yet the inftitution of monkifm 
 in Japan is much more reafonable than that of tile 
 bonzes in China ; for the blind only are admiflible in 
 the order of Fakis; and we have already obferved 
 that cecity is very common there as well as among 
 the Chinefe, who fuffer their blind to beg, tell for- 
 tunes, or live by proftitution. 
 
 The Tartar emperors indeed have not ceafed, 
 during more than a century, to encourage the fciences; 
 but their progrefs has hitherto been imperceptible. 
 If the Chinefe could dived themfelves of that na- 
 tional vanity, to which they have no title, they would 
 adopt without hefitating the writing and language of 
 the Mandhuis. This irmfl: be lefs difficult, as many 
 of the literati know it already ; and all Tartars, male 
 or female, who intermarry with the Chinefe, are 
 obliged by a rigorous law to teach it to their 
 children*. That language is infinitely fuperior to 
 the Chinefe jargon, in which nothing can be writteii 
 with precifion on true fcience ; becaufe it con- 
 tains neither declenfions, Conjugations, nor con- 
 junctions for uniting the fentences. Thofe who ap- 
 
 * Sortie learned Europeans maintain, that no alphabetical cha- 
 ra&er Could ever be adapted to xvrite a Tinging language like that 6* 
 the Chinefe. Admitting this to be true, it is an additional reafon 
 why they fhould adopt the Tartar language, which can be writ- 
 ten by our letters. The pronunciation of the R is not an invin- 
 cible obftacle, if the Chinefe would make the attempt. But the 
 changes made in our days, by Kien-long, in the Tartar characters* 
 are not merely ufclefs : they are pernicious. 
 
 VOL, ii, p
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATION'S 
 
 ply to ftudy, would certainly make more progress in 
 one year, by means of the Tartar idiom, than could 
 be effected in fifteen by that of the Chinefe, joined 
 to their characters. The whole of youth is con- 
 fumed, and the memory enervated, in acquiring fome 
 knowledge of the letters or figns alone. "Thus the 
 literati, who have learned as far as ten thoufand cha- 
 racters, appear filly and flupid after the prime of 
 life, and they are continually teazing the miflionaries 
 of Europe for fome noftrum to fortify the memory. 
 But the bed remedy they can ufe is, to abandon their 
 manner of writing, and adopt that of the Tartars. 
 Conring fuppofes that the hieroglyphics prevented 
 the progrefs of the Egyptians in the fciences * ; but 
 he reafoned without underilanding his fubjett, It is 
 not neceffary to go further back than the days of 
 Mofes, to prove that the Egyptians certainly made 
 ufe of alphabetical characters in the fame manner 
 that they are employed by us at the prefent day. 
 The hieroglyphics \vere referved for particular mat- 
 ters, and their number muft have been very con- 
 fined, becaufe we fee the fame figures in almoft all 
 the monuments. Thus it was very imprpper to com- 
 pare the Egyptians, who had an alphabet, to the 
 Chinefe, who neither ufed any thing of the kind, nor 
 ever heard of the twenty-two letters, fuch as they 
 have appeared on the bandages of the mummies. 
 Mr. de Guignes could not have known thofe cha- 
 racters 5 and we muft, therefore, confider what he 
 
 * Medic* Herm. cap. sv,
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. fttt 
 
 has written on that fubject as a mere exercife of the 
 imagination. It is in fact as little founded as the 
 voyage of the Chinefe, who are made by him to ar- 
 rive in America through Kamfchatka, as Bergerac 
 Went to the moon by the way ef Quebec. 
 
 After this digreffion, it is proper to examine what 
 the bonzes of China have advanced in favor of their 
 being ufeful to the ftate. Their hofpitality, in th 
 firft place, is the effect of an abufe which might 
 eafily be remedied by improving the police* and 
 creeling inns for the accommodation of travellers of 
 every rank and condition. The cong-qv.an^ or public- 
 houfes, fell into ruin, it is faid, on the invafion of the 
 Tartars. But we have little reafon to think, that 
 thofe conquerors would have amufed themfelves with 
 throwing down or plundering buildings almoft en* 
 tirely deftitute of furniture. They were befides of 
 no utility to common travellers, becaufe, in order to 
 procure lodging there, it was neceflary to be provided 
 with an order from the court. Concerning the want 
 of priefts, or facrificers, who cannot be difpenfed 
 with in the Indian religion, which has been embraced 
 by all the people of China, that indeed is a great in* 
 convenience. If the emperor, however, would only 
 allot one fourth part of the lands poffefled by the: 
 bonzeries for the maintenance- of facrificers, the 
 purpofe would be much better anfwered, and thofe 
 men might be employed in the public fdiodls, if any 
 ihould be afterwards erected. Never was it known 
 that the bonzes inftructed youth in any of the pro* 
 vincss of the empire"; and their ignorance is fuch # 
 
 p 4 that
 
 * PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 that they are really incapable of the taik. Thus, irt 
 whatever light thofe men are confidered, they are un- 
 worthy of the leaft indulgence. 
 
 With regard to the monks of Lao-kium, their pre- 
 tenfions are faid to be founded on fome right, claimed 
 by them, of affifting as muficians at the great facri- 
 fices offered at each equinox and folftice by the em- 
 peror, or the perfon deputed by him, in cafe of fick- 
 nefs, minority, or abfence* 
 
 Admitting this to be true, the monks of Lao-kium 
 have at leaft fome connexion with the ancient religion 
 ot China. Yet the fervices they render, by producing 
 a deteftable mufic during the facrifices, could never 
 compenfate for the evils they create by deceiving poor 
 wretches, and even by poifoning them with the drink 
 of immortalitv. By pretending to have the fecret of 
 preparing this potion, they attract as much veneration 
 as by their legends concerning Lao-kium, who de 
 fcended, as they allege, from the royal family of 
 Tchcou. Thus, according to their genealogy, the 
 imperial family of Tang muft have iffued from Lao- 
 kium. Yet, in our opinion, he was an obfcure man; 
 and hiftorians do not agree even on the precife time 
 in which he lived *. The greater part make him, 
 with much apparent probability, cotemporary with 
 Confucius j and the prelates of his order affirm that, 
 fmce his death, their regular fucceffion has never once 
 been interrupted. They therefore efleem themfelves 
 
 * Some hlftorians pretend, that Lao-l':um lived dill at the 
 extin&ion of the dynafty of Tchcov, about 249 years before our 
 era. 
 
 as
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. ir$ 
 
 as more noble than thofe icputed as belonging to the 
 family of Confucius, who did not become illuftrious 
 until a much later period. It appears to me, that 
 this pretended family of Confucius is likewife fome 
 kind of monadic order or religious congregation; 
 and this might have been known by making re- 
 fearches at Chio-foii, in the province of Cban-tong. 
 That fpot, fo intereding, has been entirely neglected ; 
 at lead we do not find any fatisfactory information 
 concerning it. No judicious perfon will readily be- 
 lieve, that one family could have inhabited the fame 
 burgh, during more than two thoufand years, amidfl 
 all the dreadful revolutions produced in China by 
 civil wars, foreign invafions, irregular fhocks of dcf- 
 potifm, famine, revolts, and combinations of rob- 
 bers. The latter alone, in a certain length of time, 
 pillaged almoft the whole country ; and perhaps not 
 one town efcaped being taken by thofe ruffians, who 
 fometimes, were known to fhed more blood than fo- 
 reign enemies. When Canton fell into their hands, 
 they flaughtered upwards of one hundred thoufand 
 perfons ; and their cruelties at Pe-kin have been al- 
 ready mentioned. It is therefore fcarcely credible, 
 that the family of Confucius could have remained 
 condantly until now in the fmall town of Kiott-fou, 
 unlefs we confider it as a monadic order. In that 
 cufe, the fact changes entirely its nature, and does 
 not require the fuppofition of any regular filial fuc- 
 ceffion. This opinion feems to be confirmed by the 
 title of Saint given by the Chinefe to Confucius ; and 
 the religious worfliip they render to him, conveys 
 
 r 3 iucas
 
 I4 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 ideas very different from thofe attached by us to the- 
 word Philofopher, which has nothing fynonimous in 
 their language. It is faid, likewife, that he intro- 
 duced feveral changes in religion, and abolished the 
 cuftom of placing fmall ftatues in the tombs ; but he 
 would have acted more wifely by preventing his 
 countrymen from filling the mouths of the dead with 
 pearls, and burying them in a ruinous manner. 
 
 As the great facrifices of the Chinefe have long been 
 fixed to the equinoxes and folftices,that circumflance is 
 frequently cited as a proof of their progrefs in aftro- 
 nomy ever fmce the mod diftant ages. To this is 
 added the firft chapter of the canonical book, called 
 Chou-Kingt where, as Father Gaubil informs us, Tao 
 is faid to have known with precifion the duration of 
 the folar year, and the mod exact method of interca- 
 lation. Jnflead, however, of employing that form 
 of almanac, he forbade it among the people, and in* 
 flituted the lunar year. But the fact is, that the firft 
 chapter of the Chou-King is a compofition of a much 
 later date, and cannot be admitted as proving any 
 thing in favour of Tao. The canonical books of the 
 Chinefe are too imperfect and confufed to admit of 
 much faith ; and the Chou-King, faid to have been 
 compiled by Confucius, who lived feventcen hundred 
 years after Tao, is at bed only a fragment, where 
 forty-one chapters are wanting. Independently of ali 
 thefe confiderations, it is impoffible that the Chinefe, 
 while they remained, by their own confefTion, in a 
 ftate of barbarifm, could have been better acquainted 
 with aftronomy than at this day, when they arc 
 
 obliged
 
 &X THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. ary 
 
 obliged to employ Germans at Pe-kin to compofe the 
 almanacs of the empire. Can it be fuppofed, that, 
 if any among themfelves were capable of performing 
 fuch calculations, they would invite ftrangers from a 
 country three thoufand leagues diftant, to prevent a 
 total confufion ? It would be exactly a fimilar cafe, 
 if the Academy of Sciences at Paris applied to the Ta- 
 laquoins of Japan to foretel eclipfes in France. 
 
 The Chinefe year, we {hould obfervc, was always 
 lunary, and never commenced towards the rifmg of 
 Sirius. Thus they differed as much from the Egyp- 
 tians in their calendars, as in their religious inftitu- 
 tions. If they were alike addicted to judicial aftro- 
 logy, their error is common fo all the nations of 
 Afia and Africa, where the ancient worfhip of ftars and 
 planets neceffarily produced that fpecies of fuperflition. 
 When the Arabs became maflers of the tribunal of 
 mathematics, they took care not to riik their bread 
 by abolishing fuch practices ; and Father Hallerflein 
 himfelf is now under the neceffity of inferting various 
 predictions in the c Tang-fio. > or almanac, compiled by 
 him, as chief of the aflronomers. That body is prin- 
 cipally compofed of Europeans ; and, without their 
 aid, no ban- I'm or college of Pekin could be compared 
 to the prefent Gia-mea-el-afoar^ or the academy of 
 Cairo. Yet the arts and fciences in modern Egypt 
 have not preferved the fhadow of their former 
 fplendor. 
 
 ; The diforders prevalent in the Chinefe calculations 
 at the conqueft of the Mogul Tartars, prove fuffi- 
 ciently that, long previous to that epoch, the grand 
 
 P 4 facii-
 
 2.i6 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 facrifices could not be performed exactly as they were 
 intended at the equinoxes and folftices. Neither of 
 thofe periods were indicated in their calendar, which 
 was held in fuch contempt throughout Afia, that 
 the people inhabiting between Bengal and the pro- 
 vince of Yun-nen refufed to adopt what they juftly 
 termed a bundle of errors. When the Arabian aftro- 
 nomers, by order of Koublai Kan, had rectified thefe 
 blunders, the pride of the Chinefe became infupport- 
 able, and they ordered the Indians to receive their 
 calendars, or prepare for war. As no attention was 
 paid to this menace, a Chinefe army of twenty thou, 
 fand men marched againfl the pretended rebels ; but 
 it received fuch a total defeat, that fcarcely a fmgle 
 perfon efcaped ; and, ever fmce, the project has been 
 abandoned entirely. The intention was really to efta- 
 blifh a commerce with thofe books, although each of 
 them fold for no more than eight kandarins. The 
 Chinefe traffic with every thing; and, when unem- 
 ployed in that manner, they are, lijte the Jews, out of 
 their element. 
 
 Since the fecond correction of the Chinefe year, 
 which took place under the Tartar emperors of the 
 prefent dynafly, the folemn facrifices are performed 
 punctually at each equinox and folftice with great 
 parade ; and the number of muficians employed there 
 inay amount to a^bout five or fix hundred. Yet thefe 
 concerts, where the found of the drum always predo- 
 minates, can give no idea of the ancient mufic of the 
 Chinefe, which, as they fay, is entirely lofl. Ac-, 
 cording to them, every thing has degenerated j an<^ 
 
 they
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. ir 7 
 
 they were much greater artifts in a ftate of barbarifm, 
 under the Kan Fo-bi, than ever afterwards in civil 
 life. Such ridiculous opinions do not defer ve to be 
 refuted. Their ancient instruments of mufic, of 
 which we find the different forms in the Chou-King* 
 were beyond comparifon more imperfect than thofe 
 they employ at this day, as every perfon mufl perceive 
 on infpe&ing the figures. 
 
 Whenever the noife of the mufic is heard, the vic- 
 tims are butchered, and offered with much incenfe to 
 the genius of the fky. No lefs folemnity is obferved 
 in facrificing to the genius of the earth, whofe temple 
 is conftrudted in a different manner. All thefe genii, 
 according to the literati, are emanations of Tai-ki^ or 
 the Great Height ; and in this we obferve nothing 
 more than a rude deifm. Men plunged fo deeply as 
 they are in an ignorance of nature cannot poffibly at- 
 tain more fublime ideas, without the aid of philofophy 
 and true fcience, which would foon deflroy the doc- 
 trine of fpirits or manitous. On the four fides of the 
 altar are feen great (tones, reprefenting the genii of 
 the mountains, wood, metal, air, and fire. It is 
 chielly in honor of the latter, fays Mr. Ofbeck, that 
 ?he Chinefe obferve the feaft of lanterns, that their 
 Sowns, fo very combuftible in their nature, maybe 
 preferved from the flames *. 
 
 Nothing can be more ridiculous than the idea, that 
 tKis illumination had fome connexion with the feafl 
 of lamps celebrated at Athens, and Sais, in honor of 
 
 * Reife nach Oftindien und China. 
 
 Minerva,
 
 fei* PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS. 
 
 Minerva. The Chinefe never even heard of that 
 deity ; and this is fo certain, that no perfon of real 
 learning would attempt to maintain the contrary. If 
 the mod knowing among the literati at Pe-km were to 
 fee a figure of Minerva, with the fymbols of the lamp 
 and the fphinx, which the Greeks placed on her hel- 
 met, or with the fcarabee, according to the ideas of 
 the Egyptians, they would underftand as little of that 
 allegorical ilatue as of the hieroglyphics, or the 
 obelilks. 
 
 It might have happened that the Chinefe celebrated 
 the feafl of lanterns in- February, on the fame day 
 allotted by the Catholics of Europe for the feafl of 
 luminaries ; and, in that cafe, it would be ridiculous 
 to infer, that one of thofe ufages had been copied from 
 the other. The moft ftriking refemblances are fre- 
 quently deceitful ; and we have an inftance of this in 
 the error of Bochard with regard to the fox-races in 
 the circus at Rome. As fire-brands were tied to the 
 tails of thofe animals, he imagined that the Romans 
 intended in that manner to perpetuate the remem- 
 brance of an event fo memorable as that of the burn- 
 ing of fome corn-fields on the confines of Palefline, 
 contrary to the law of nations. But, in truth, the 
 Romans were very indifferent about what parted in 
 Palefline ; and the fox-race was much indebted to 
 the imagination of Ovid. 
 
 Nothing is more fabulous than what Father le 
 
 Comtc. in his Memoirs on China, relates concerning 
 
 the origin of the feafl: of lanterns. He pretends that 
 
 -mperor Kte, having complained of the fhortnefs, 
 
 of
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 21$ 
 
 of human life, was advifed to light up his palace in 
 fuch a manner that night could not be diftinguimed 
 from day* This infipid ftory, as we obferved before, 
 muft have been extracted from another in Herodotus, 
 relative to a king of Egypt, who having under flood, 
 from the oracle of Buta in the Delta, that he had 
 only fix years to live, caufed likewife his court to be 
 illuminated, that he might enjoy the more light; as 
 if a man, who had only fix years to live, could ori 
 that account difpenfe with iieep. But Herodotus, 
 without examining matters fo clofely, contented him- 
 felf with noting c-wvn all the abfurdities he could col- 
 led from the interpreters of Egypt. 
 
 Father Parrenin took care to write from Pe-kin to 
 Mr. Mair.m, that this origin of the feafl of lanterns 
 \vas a mere fable, publifhed in Europe by Father le 
 Comte. who had, as we fee, profited greatly by read- 
 ing Hcrouorus ; and if the thing deferved the trouble, 
 we could demonftrate here, that the Jefuits have in- 
 ferted facts extracted from the Bible in the Hiftory of 
 China. When the Chinefe authors are confuited on 
 the pretended adventure of the prince or emperor 
 /<"/>, we find nothing but childifh and difgufting pro- 
 digies. They affure us, that during his reign a ftar 
 fell from heaven ; that the fyftem or courfe of th'e 
 planets was evidently deranged ; the mountains fell 
 down, and three funs appeared at once towards the 
 eaft. Yet no perfon could fee at the court of the 
 prince, becaufe he had rendered all his apartments 
 inacceflible to the rays of light. It is almoft fuperflu** 
 pus to addj that hiftojry, written in this manner, does 
 
 not
 
 -i PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 not deferve to be. read. All that the Chinefe know 
 really, concerning the emperor Kie, comprehends 
 very little indeed ; but \vith them prodigies are fre- 
 quently fubftituted for hiftbrical facts. They incef- 
 fantly praife Confucius for having fpoken of the fall 
 of ftars, the rolling down of mountains, the fong of 
 the matchlefs bird, the apparition of the unicorn, and 
 the metamorphofis of infecis, which they long confi.- 
 dered as miraculous. 
 
 Thus, as we have feen, no connexion whatever 
 fubfifts between the feaft celebrated in honor of Mi- 
 nerva, and the great illumination of China, where all 
 the fymbolical divinities of Egypt are unknown. It 
 is not neceffary to confider here the difference of the 
 terms Tien or Chang-ii, ufed by the Chinefe to denote 
 the genius of the Iky, and the Egyptian words Phtha 
 and Cnuj)h, in which Eufebius perceives the Creator 
 of the univerfe. The Jefuits acknowledge tmani- 
 moufly, that the Chinefe form no fuch ideas of their 
 genii ; and Mr. Leibnitz conforms to that opinion *. 
 
 Confucius, it is faid, was afked to explain his fen- 
 timents of the Divinity ; but having excufed himfelf 
 for the time, he went home, and wrote, as Father 
 Couplet fays, the following words in his Commentary 
 on the T-king : 
 
 The Great Height engendered tvco qualities : the pcr- 
 fctT. and the imperfect. Thefe two qualities engendered 
 
 * Martini, among the reft, exprefies himfelf thus : Defummo ac 
 pr'mo rerum Auctore mirum apud oinnes Sinasjilentiam : quippe in lam 
 cofaja ItnguQ use nomen yuidam Deus balet. Hiii. Sin. lib. i. 
 
 four
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. *rt 
 
 /bur images : thefe four images produced the eight figure? 
 0/To-hi, that is to fay, all things. 
 
 Who at the prefent day would venture to aflert, 
 that this declaration contains the fmalleft particle of 
 common fenfe ? It anfwers no purpofe to object, that 
 other ancient philofophers have fometimes written in a 
 manner equally unreafonable. They at leaft never 
 pretended to write treatifes on forcery, or rhabdo- 
 mancy, fuch as that wherein Confucius is faid to have 
 inferted the words we have quoted, relative to divina- 
 tion by rods ; which, we may be allowed to repeat, 
 difcovers no fymptoms of common fenfe. 
 
 If any thing could have plunged the literati into 
 fatalifm, it mufl have been the foolifh doctrine of 
 Confucius on the power of chance ; and certainly 
 fome of them have hazarded very monftrous chimeras, 
 on the revolution of the five Chinefe elements, which 
 alternately produce a new imperial family or dynafty. 
 When, for example, an imperial family is produced 
 by the power of water, or the genius prefiding over 
 that element, it cannot give more than twenty em- 
 perors, whofe actions are all the effect of fate or ne- 
 ceffity : if they were free, fay they, we could riot- 
 predict them by the table of chances, commented 
 upon by the great Confucius. 
 
 Although Mr. Vifdelou attributes this doclrin 
 the men of letters in general, yet we mult ftippofe 
 that only the fillieft among them are capable of pub- 
 liming fuch abfurdities. Probably, indeed, they un- 
 derftand nothing of the matter ; for in China, as in 
 the reft of the world, people frequently confufe their 
 
 ideas
 
 *a PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATION'S 
 
 ideas in fuch a manner, that they can no longer ex- 
 plain either what they credit or difbelieve. Thus, 
 fpeaking of the religion of China, we have dated only 
 general opinions ; becaufe it would be difficult to find 
 two or three hundred of the literati poflefling precifely 
 the fame fentiments, and a like number capable of 
 remaining one day invariable in their principles ; and 
 as many more who form diflinct notions of what they 
 pretend to believe. Thofe, who make the human 
 foul double, which comes nearly to the fame thing 
 with the homo duplex of fome metaphyficians of Eu- 
 rope, may be counted among the number of thofe 
 xvho do not underfhand themfelves. Father Longo- 
 bardi fays, in his famous treatife, that the literati of 
 China declared to him openly their fentiments of 
 atheifm. But they had perhaps fuddled themfelves, 
 like Hobbes, whofe infidelity frequently difappeared 
 with his intoxication. 
 
 The pailion of the Chinefe for forcery proves them 
 to be fuperftitious, but not at all fatalifls. Befidea 
 the divination by rods, they practife another mode 
 with a plant called chl. After having dr^wn out the 
 fibres of the leaf, they throw them at random, >and 
 then examine how far their" pofition agree? with the 
 Y-king. This method appears to me to have \ 
 practifed with very little variation by the ioothfayc:>: 
 of Scythia when they twilled the .leaves of the 
 low, erroneoufly called the lime-tree in the I. . 
 fion of Herodotus. That author mult h-i\v ;\;a very 
 particular information concerning the Afiaiic Scy- 
 thians, for the truth of his details is confirmed daily * r 
 4 and
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. -2*j 
 
 -and it would be difficult to conceive the poffibility of 
 his being fo well acquainted with the cufloms of thofe 
 diftant nations, did we not obferve the fame accuracy 
 in the geography of Ptolemy. He points out pre- 
 cilely fome parts of Sericum, or Igour, although thofe 
 countries were the end of the world to the Greeks 
 and Romans, who knew as little of the Chinefe as 
 we do of the inhabitants of the South Pole. Hero- 
 dotus had travelled into Colchis ; and, when we 
 reflect on the extraordinary route by which the 
 merchants of that country found means to traffic 
 with India, we may be able to account for his pre- 
 cifion. 
 
 It is generally believed, that the fectaries, fuppofed 
 to be Neftorians, went in the feventh century to 
 preach Chriflianity in China, where they were firft 
 protected, then perfecuted, and finally maflacred. 
 They had the difciples of Lao-kiunL, the bonzes, and 
 the emprefs, for declared enemies; and their preaching 
 anfwered no other purpofe than to produce bloodmed. 
 Not one Chriflian remained in China at the conqueft of 
 the Mogul Tartars, who favored indifcriminately all 
 flrangers, whofe induftry might be ufefal to the {late, 
 "without caring what was their religion. ft; 
 Kan even fixed fome Chriilian familie? a? IV-kin, 
 which the patriarch of Bagdad on one fide, aru ; 
 pope on the other, creeled into an arclibifiiopric, 
 But the emperor eftabliflied a tribur. .'AWI- 
 
 foil/ft^ to fuperintend the two metropolitans. On the 
 cxpulfion of the Mogul Tartars, the Chridiansa .after 
 fufFering another violent perfccution, were ; at length 
 
 totally
 
 *t* PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 totally extirpated. The mofl prudent fled to Tartary $ 
 fbme embraced the religion of the bonzes, and the reft 
 were maflacred. In the year one thoufand five hun- 
 dred and ninety-two, when no trace of Chriflianity 
 could be found in China, fome miffionaries began 
 again to preach there ; but the Neophytes, except a 
 very fmall number, who held confiderable employ- 
 ments, were all of the vileft dregs of the people. As 
 the wives of that clafs of men went to church, the 
 better fort of Chinefe were much fcandalized, and 
 they confidered the miffionaries as corrupters. Some 
 Jefuits fancied they could calm fuch fufpicions by hav- 
 ing feparate chapels for the two fexes * : but this in- 
 tended remedy only aggravated the offence. The 
 governor of Ham-thcou was fo exafperated, on hearing 
 that many women were fhut up in a church with two 
 or three men, that, without waiting for orders from 
 court, he caufed the chuich to be levelled to the very 
 foundation. In their refpeclive departments, the go- 
 vernors act in a manner almofl defporic ; and the 
 Chriflians have fometimes been ftrongly protected in 
 certain provinces, while violently perfecuted in others. 
 Polygamy, however, was always an infurmountable 
 obflacle to the prbgrefs of their doctrines. The mif- 
 fionaries, infilling pofitively on repudiation, would 
 not allow their converts to preferve more than one 
 wife : but they never attempted to abolifh perfon?.! 
 bondage, although it is more contrary to the rights 
 of nature than polygamy, which is almofl a neceflary 
 
 * Gobien, Hulcny of China. 
 
 conle-
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 22 j 
 
 confequence of flavery in warm countries. It was pre- 
 tended, that the primitive Chriftians never required 
 fuch facrifices ; and that different religious communi- 
 ties in Europe pofTeffed bond-men during many cen- 
 turies. But this was a dreadful abufe, which cannot 
 be alleged as a precedent ; for what is contrary to 
 natural jight can never be admitted in morality. 
 When a Chinefe had married feveral wives, in con- 
 formity to the laws of his country, he could not re- 
 pudiate them, efpecially when mothers, without in- 
 juflice ; but he was always at liberty to make his 
 flaves free ; and thus the conduct of the miffionaries 
 was altogether contradictory. On the other hand, 
 the government of China never knew what religion 
 mould be tolerated or excluded. Admiflion was given. 
 there to Jews, Mahometans, Lamas, Parfis, Manis, 
 Marrha, Si lipan*, Yeli-Kaoven, Armenians, Bra- 
 mins, Neltorians, Greek Chriilians, who had a 
 church at Pe-kin, and to Catholics. The latter, how- 
 ever, fuffered more perfecution than all the reft to- 
 gether, and they were at laft totally exterminated. 
 The emperor Can-hi alone illued three contradictory 
 edicts concerning them. He firft prohibited preach- 
 ing, then gave permiffion, and afterwards enforced 
 his firit decree, without ever knowing in what the 
 Catholic religion confifled. It is a fact, that the mif- 
 fionaries never dared to (how him either the Bible or 
 the Evangelifls. We are afiured, and with much ap- 
 
 * The religion of the Marrha and of the Si-lipan is not wetf 
 known ; but it is probably a mifUke to fuppofe them to be Chrif- 
 tiafis. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 parent
 
 *2<S PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 parent truth, that in one thoufand fix hundred and 
 ninety-two, this prince knew nothing of the conquefta 
 made by the Europeans in America, on the coaft of 
 Africa, in the Molucca Iflands, and in fo many parts 
 of Afia. Let us only reflect on fuch men as the Man- 
 dhui Tartars, who all at once fubdued China, with- 
 out having any notion either of hiflory or geography; 
 and then we cannot be furprifed, that the emperor 
 Can-bi fhould be totally ignorant of the conduct of 
 the Chriftians in America. It was from his being 
 previoufly unacquainted with fuch matters, that the 
 memorial, prefented at Pe-kin in one thoufand feven 
 hundred and feventeen, made an indelible impreilion 
 on the minds of the Tartars. It reprefented the Chrif- 
 tians as a band of confpirators, who intended to ren- 
 der themfelves matters in the empire, as they had 
 done in the New World. This project certainly was 
 not real ; but it feemed probable to the Tartars, who 
 had not eighty thoufand effective men when they en- 
 tered Pe-kin. They were indeed favored by the eu- 
 nuchs of the palace ; but the taking of the capital was 
 nothing, as kmg as they had, not poflfeffion of the 
 fouthern provinces, which however were conquered 
 very rapidly. Not one inland town of China is ca- 
 pable of refilling a regular fiege of three days ; and 
 admiral Anfon declared, that a fingle ihip of fixty 
 guns would be fufficient to fink a whole Chinefe fleet. 
 The perfon, who fought to alarm the court of Pe-kin 
 on account of the Neophytes and miflionaries, mufl 
 therefore have been well acquainted with the weak- 
 nefs of his own country. It Jias, in faft, hitherto 
 
 efcaped
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 4*7 
 
 efcaped the fury of our European robbers, merely 
 from its great diftancfc j and even that barrier would 
 vanifh on the difcovery of a north-weft paflage. The 
 princes who fiicceeded Can-hi, far from tolerating 
 Chriilianity, did not ceafe, until the year one thou- 
 fand feven hundred and fixty-fix, to reflrain Euro* 
 peans more and more, and to ufe greater precautions 
 againft them. But, without intending any act of be- 
 nevolence, they would have rendered the greateft fer- 
 vice to Europe, by (hutting their ports entirely to the 
 mips of the five nations allowed to traffic at Canton. 
 
 We terminate here this Section, after having de- 
 monftrated that never two nations refembled each 
 other lefs, in what concerns religion, than the Egyp- 
 tians and Chinefe. The immolation of victims indeed 
 was common to both j but the fame ufage has been 
 found by modern travellers to fubfift in all the coun- 
 tries they have vifited, except India and Thibet, 
 where the particular circumftance of the tranfmigra- 
 tion of fouls has counteracted the general rule* The 
 learned have been at a lofs to know, how fo many na- 
 tions of the ancient and new continents could have 
 fallen alike into an extravagance fo t>ppofite to all 
 notions of common fenfe, as that of flaughtering ani- 
 mals in honor of God. Some fuppofe it muft have 
 commenced with prifonefs made in war : but the firft 
 people evidently imagined, that nature contained cer- 
 tain geniij who came to tafte the blood, flefh, en- 
 trails, or fmoke of the facrinces. As all were origin- 
 ally hunters, and afterwards fhepherds, it is more 
 natural that they lliould have fought to regale the gods 
 CL2
 
 ** PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 with flefh, than with fruits, which the manitous 
 themfelves could find in the forefts. Thofe, who 
 quitted the paftoral life to till the earth, began at 
 length to offer the firft fruits of their fields j and then 
 the immolation of victims fhould have ceafed. But 
 it was continued, as we have faid, from the obflinacy 
 with which the firfl civilized nations adhered to the 
 religious practices of favage life. This is the reafon 
 why fo many cuftoms, invented by the Scythians, are 
 found ftill in China, while thofe of the Ethiopian* 
 were as evidently continued in Egypt.
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 
 
 SECT. IX. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF EGYPT. 
 
 'Oniiiia poft obitum fingit majora vetuftas. 
 
 WHEN the ancients fpoke with fo much com- 
 mendation of the civil inftitutions and police 
 of Egypt, they were under a conflant illofion. This 
 was occafiOned by the Greek authors, who con- 
 founded the laws, really obferved in that country, 
 with others, which never exifted but in books. The 
 fecond volume of the Hermetic Collection contained 
 many fage maxims, relative to the manner in which 
 the Pharaohs ought to conduct themfelves, in order 
 to reign happily, and gain the applaufe of the people. 
 But many of thofe princes were far from being in- 
 clined to perform the duties prefcribed to them ever 
 fmce the foundation of the monarchy. Some were 
 ilothful, voluptuous, filly, and deteftable tyrants, who 
 obferved only vain ceremonies, and really trampled 
 equity under foot. In the fame manner, all the 
 wicked kings of Judea performed their legal ablutions 
 with the greateft exaftnefs, and never deviated at 
 table from the Mofaic regimen, while the people 
 were cruflied under their unlawful exactions. 
 
 Ammianus Marcellinus is wrong in fuppofing that 
 the Roman code was copied from the jurifprudence 
 of Egypt. On the contrary, the decemvirs at Roma 
 rejected the only Egyptian law proper for a republic. 
 Jt related to debtors, on whofe perfons no creditor 
 CL 3 could
 
 *ja PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 could exercife the fmallefl violence ; and this regu* 
 lation was as wife and moderate as that of the de 
 cemvirs was barbarous. In fhort, tfye twelve tables 
 did not contain the flighted trace of Egyptian jurif- 
 prudence, of which even Solon had little knowledge 
 when he reformed the town of Athens, and abolifhed 
 forne of the decrees of Draco ; for this took place pre- 
 vious to his journey to Sais, where he feeins to have 
 traded. 
 
 Some of the Egyptian laws are fq fimplc and clear, 
 that they do not require to be analyzed. The 
 contrary, however, was found in the regulation 
 concerning thieves, which Diodorus the hiftorian, 
 and the lawyer Arifton, by contradicting each other, 
 rendered fo complicated, that no philofopher could 
 conceive either its meaning or object According to 
 Diodorus, the thieves of Egypt were obliged to in- 
 fert their names in a regifler ; and when any thing 
 flolen was claimed, they reftored only three-fourths 
 of the value, becaufe the legiflator allowed them to 
 referve a portion, either to recompenfe their addrefs, 
 or to punifh the negligence of thofe who fuffered 
 their property to be ftolen. Diodorus, however^ 
 Ihould have perceived that many particular cafes could 
 not be decided by this pretended law, but muft ne. 
 ceffarily haye required another, concerning which he 
 is filent. 
 
 I remember having read, fays Aulus Gellius, in a 
 work of the lawyer Art/ton, that among the Egyptians^ 
 who were remarkable for their fagacity inftudying na~ 
 jure, and great penetration in inventing the arts t every 
 
 fpecies
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND .CHINESE. a_ 3 x 
 
 fpeciet of theft was allowedly law^ and praftifed with 
 impunity *. 
 
 By reflecting on thefe two \vhimfical inftitutions, 
 it is eafy to perceive that they could not fubfift in the 
 fame fociety, but might well belong to different na- 
 tions. The authors, who have fpoken concerning 
 them, were evidently ill informed, becaufe they are at 
 variance with each other and with themfelv.es. What 
 has been taken for an Egyptian law is in reality an 
 agreement made with the Arabs, who could not be 
 prevented from dealing and robbing. It therefore 
 became cuftomary to redeem fuch effefts as had fallen 
 into their hands, as we find pra&ifed frequently at 
 the prefent day. The Bedouins reflore for the hun- 
 dredth part of their value, the jewels they acquire in 
 plundering a caravan ; and they would be content to 
 have always the fourth part in money, for the whole 
 amount of the wares they capture, under the vain 
 pretext, that the deferts of Arabia Petrea are their 
 dominions. We find a modern traveller endeavour- 
 ing to juftify this plea, as if it was not known, that the 
 .Bedouins commit fuch depredations very far from 
 their wildernefles, on territories, of which they were 
 never really poflefled, and where of courfe it is un- 
 .juft in them to exaft tribute from pafTengers. 
 i Under the mepherd kings the Arabs fpread them- 
 felves in troops over all Egypt, and it became abfo- 
 
 * Id etlam tnemiiti legere me in libra Arijlonis jureconfulli 
 
 indofti viri, apudveteres JEgyptios, quod genus bominum conjlat Cif 
 in artibus repcriendis foleries extlttffe, 5" in cognitions rerum indaganda 
 Jagaces,furta omniafui/Je licita 3" impunita. Nol. Att. lib. xi. 
 
 lutely
 
 tjs '-PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 lutely neceffary to rave fome fixed compact with 
 them, relative to the fpoils they might colled, by 
 Health or plunder. We have reafon to believe, that 
 pilfered goods were likewife bought back from the 
 Jews ; for it would be very furprifmg, that fuch men 
 as they fhould have ftolen only once in Egypt, efne- 
 cially when protected by the ufurpers. Thofe tyrants 
 favored fhepherds and oppreffed hufbandmen, in 
 order to counteract, as much as poflible, all the inftr- 
 tutions of the vanquifhed nation. 
 
 It is now eafy to form fome idea of what was 
 meant by Diodorus Siculus. The names of the 
 thieves were not regiftered, but application was 
 made to the m/r, or fchcic of the Arabs, who 
 knew his fubjects, and made them reftore what they 
 had taken, on receiving the flipulated compenfation *. 
 We do not know how far the fame conduct was ob- 
 ferved under the government of the Perfians, when 
 a whole republic of banditti was eftablifhed in the 
 Delta. Something of the kind, however, mufl be 
 adopted in every country, where robbers become too 
 powerful to be either expelled or deftroyed. The 1 
 marmes they poffefled near the Heracleotic mouth of 
 the Nile were impaffable ; and neither the Perfians 
 nor Greeks could ever rid themfelves of thofe ene- 
 mies ; for their fmall veflels ferved them for houfes ; 
 
 * If the fpirit of the Egyptian law had been what Diodorus 
 fancied it to be, other regulations would have been neceflary for 
 thofe who had ftolen without having infcribed ''their names, or 
 who, although their names had been infcribed, did not reftore 
 ".xa&ly what they had ftolen. 
 
 and,
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE^. 51 
 
 and, on the flighted alarm, they concealed them- 
 felves at a great diftance among the reeds. 
 
 The extreme rigor of the laws in Egypt towards 
 thofe who fubfifted by difhonefl means, proves how 
 little they were intended to tolerate theft among the 
 native inhabitants, who were neither Arabs nor Jews. 
 Common fenfe has taught mankind, that, in a well- 
 regulated fociety, no robufl fubje&s mould ever be 
 permitted to beg; and Plato dreaded fuch people fo 
 much in a republic, that he employs three different 
 magiftrates for driving them firil from the markets, 
 then from the towns, and afterwards from the ter- 
 ritory *. If that philofopher were now to reappear, 
 and witnefs how many, in the different monaftic 
 orders, live entirely on alms, he mud fuppofe that 
 the human understanding had fuffered a confiderable 
 decline. 
 
 The Greek authors pretend, that Egypt had five 
 or fix different legiflators ; and as fuch they confider 
 Amafts, who preceded only a few years the fall of 
 the monarchy. It appears, however, that all the 
 general laws were much more ancient than the Greeks 
 believed; and what they affert muft have proceeded 
 entirely from their being very rigoroufly obferved 
 under certain princes, whofe names are not exactly 
 known. Pharaoh Bocchoris, faid by Diodorus to have 
 been a very celebrated lawgiver, was not even known 
 to Herodotus. Thus it becomes impoffible to place 
 the laws of Egypt in any chronological arrangement; 
 
 * De Legibus, dial. xi. 
 
 which,
 
 j } ^ PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 which, however neglected byNicolai andCafal, is very 
 important, in order to trace the progrefs of legiflation *. 
 Sabaccon, for example, is faid to have abolifhed in 
 every cafe the punifhment of death ; becaufe he pre- 
 ferred condemning prifoners to work for the public. 
 By thefe means, their fufferings were longer, but lefs 
 feverc; and although not fo (biking, they became more 
 ufeful. Yet long afterwards, in the reign oiAmafis^ we 
 find death inflicted on thofe, who, averfe to work, and 
 deftitute of fortune, fubfifted by that fpecies of induflry 
 which is common to rogues and Beggars. By fup- 
 pofmg all this to be fad, the jurifprudence of Egypt 
 would appear to have been aflonimingly variable. 
 But in fact Sabaccon never had any pretenfions either 
 to humanity or generofity. According to all hifto- 
 rians he was a ufurper ; and if he really did not caufe 
 Pharaoh Bocchoris to be committed to the flames, 
 at lead Nekos, the father of Pfammetichus, was 
 flain by his orders ; and Pfammetichus would have 
 ihared a fimilar fate had he not fled to Syria. Sa- 
 baccon was, therefore, far from being the mildefl 
 man of his age ; and Strabo informs us that, inftead 
 of condemning the culpable to works of public uti- 
 lity, he cut their nofes, and banifhed them from 
 Egypt. Thus it is fuppofed to have been during his 
 reign, that an eftablimment was formed, called Rhi-> 
 
 * NJcolai has written a treatife, with the title of, De JEgyp- 
 tiorum Synedrls ff Legibits injignioribus. But it is necefTarily very 
 confined, becaufe the author never underftood the fpirit of any law. 
 His work is, therefore, lefs read than even that of Cafal, which 
 contains at leail fome fingular monuments. 
 
 noculure,
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND 'CHINESE. 455 
 
 nocolure, or men without nofes ; but this muft be 
 iconfidered as fabulous. The word rbinocvlure feems 
 to have referred to an opening in the coaft, as ap- 
 pears in the map, where a promontory mod proba- 
 bly had funk down. In geography, the Arabs term 
 raof*) or nofe, what we call cape after the Italians. 
 
 Thofe who lavifli encomiums on a princefs, becaufe 
 fhe never eaufed any perfon to fuffer death, although 
 a prodigious number have been mutilated in her 
 reign, may likewife, perhaps, praife Sabaccon, who 
 cannot be faid to J^ave done any other laudable action 
 than that of abdicating the crown, and returning to 
 Ethiopia, whence he came. Yet he was not the in- 
 ventor -of mutilation. It had been long prefcribed 
 by the laws of the country for different mifdemeanors, 
 and in this fome have pretended to difcover a re- 
 markable conformity between the Egyptians and 
 Chinefe. The amputation of the leg at the knee, a 
 punifhment inflicbed anciently in China, was never 
 pra&ifed among the Egyptians, who cut off other 
 members, fuch as the tongue, hands, nofe j and, ac- 
 cording to fome authors, the very genitals. It would 
 be fuperfluous to repeat here what we have already 
 faid, to prove that this could never have been the 
 origin of the eunuchs of the palace, who fuffered 
 mutilation in childhood, before they were capable of 
 deferving fuch dreadful chaftifements. 
 
 Several nations of Europe, Africa, and Afia, have 
 had recourfe to various kinds of mutilation for cer- 
 tain crimes, which, according to their manner of 
 thinking, did not deferve capital punimment. Thus 
 I no
 
 4 3 S PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 no particular refernblance can be admitted in this 
 point between the Egyptians and the Chinefe. The 
 latter, ever fmce the origin of their empire, have 
 permitted malefactors, in .certain cafes, to commute 
 their penalties for money. This firft abufe intro- 
 duced another in China, where poverty, or avarice, 
 induces wretches to fupport floggings for thofe culprits 
 who have money to pay for fubftitutes. The judge 
 wifhes to exhibit a puniihment, and provided he finds 
 any body to endure it, it is indifferent in his eyes 
 what perfon prefents himfelf for the purpofe. In 
 Egypt nobody was allowed to purchafe with money 
 a difcharge from corporal chaflifements decreed by 
 the law, and much lefs could any miferable wretches 
 be placed under the hands of the executioner, inftead 
 of the real culprits. Thus the Chinefe are, perhaps, 
 the only people in the world, who buy and fell pu- 
 nifhments ; and among them, as Mr. Salmon julily 
 obferves, the firfl notions of juftice are perverted, 
 while all its formalities are rigidly obferved *. 
 
 "When fo many pecuniary fines were inflicted in 
 the time of the lower empire, nothing more was ne- 
 ceffary to characterize a bad government. The com- 
 mutations for money, fo frequent in the codes of 
 barbarians, prove equally a mofl defective jurifpru- 
 dence. The Egyptians confined pecuniary fines to 
 one fingle cafe, which was that of having inconfi- 
 
 * Prefent State of China, vol. i. Father le Comte fays, that 
 near all the tribunals people are found who hire themfclves to re- 
 ceive chaftifement in the place of criminals. The judge muil 
 certainly firft of all be corrupted. 
 
 derately
 
 EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 137 
 
 derately deftroyed any of the facred animals pro- 
 tected by the law. But it was always a capital of- 
 fence to kill the ibis and the vulture. This latter 
 is privileged alfo by the Englifli ; and it was of more 
 utility in ancient Egypt than all the other birds and 
 quadrupedes together. Had not the Thracians and 
 the Greeks inflicted fimilar pimifhments on thofe who 
 took away the life of a ftork or an ox, the conduct of 
 the Egyptians would be unexampled. Yet no precedent 
 could render it entirely excufable. When any prac- 
 tice, very trifling in appearance, may be found de- 
 rogatory to the public good, the legiflature has a 
 thoufand means of remedying it, without having re- 
 courfe to torture. The Tufcan law, which inflicted 
 arbitrary penalties on thofe who deftroyed their own 
 bees by means of fulphur, was altogether ineffectual; 
 and experience proves that fuch meafures never abo- 
 lifhed a pernicious cuftom in any country. 
 
 It is our intention here to fpeak only of the abufe 
 which each perfon may make of public property, or 
 even of what he himfelf poffeffes. We do not pre- 
 tend to develope the atrocious game-laws, ftill fub- 
 fifting in fo many places of Europe, where the killing 
 of a roe-buck is fufficient to occafion the death of a 
 man, and the infamy of a family. This barbarity 
 originated from a race of men, who anciently lived 
 chiefly by the chafe, and whofe jurifprudence mould 
 have been reformed, when they began to cultivate 
 the ground. 
 
 The Egyptians had very fevere laws againfl unfair 
 Dealing. They imagined in their purgatory, or 
 
 amenthis,
 
 -a 3* PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERT ATtONS 
 
 amenthis, an avenging genius for each Fpecies of 
 crime committed in the world * j and yet they were 
 accufed of fraudulent practices in commerce. This 
 however was imputed to them by the Greeks alone, 
 who were a thoufand times more notorious for fuch 
 vices, and whofe bad faith will never ceafe to be pro- 
 verbial among mankind. Egypt at one time, fays 
 Strabo, perfifled in not opening its ports to the mips 
 of Greece and Thrace ; and it was then, continues he* 
 that the Greeks filled Europe with calumnies againft 
 the government of the Pharaohs, who, content with the 
 productions of their own country, would no longer 
 either give or receive. But Plato, who apparently had 
 fome traffic in Egypt, begins by mowing that a na- 
 tion mould cultivate arithmetical knowledge j and 
 then, after fome common-place remarks, he infmuates 
 {lily, that the Phenicians and Egyptians had made 
 an ill ufe of the knowledge they had acquired in cal- 
 culating and meafuring. Independently of this fub- 
 tlety, it has been -obferved, that feveral nations of 
 the ibuth of Afia and Africa have always had an ex- 
 treme inclination for ufury, equivocal contracts, mo- 
 nopolies, and that fpecies of roguery which cha- 
 racterizes the Jews in Europe. They in fact have 
 given a great extcnfion to the precepts of Deutero- 
 nomy, which are more conformable to the ancient 
 Nomandic jurifprudence than to that of Egypt, 
 Mofes was forced to refpect certain ufages already ob- 
 ferved among the Hebrews, previous to their being 
 
 * This might have occafioned the great diverfity of torments, 
 which the Greeks and Romans fuppoiedto be employed in their hell,- 
 
 reduced
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 239 
 
 reduced to a ftate of bondage. They were very 
 fimilar to thofe eftablifhed among the Arabs, who have 
 always been famous for their defective laws, and the 
 fmgularity of their crimes, fome of which, \\kefcope/if?n, 
 are fufficient to render a whole province delert *. 
 
 Many regulations were invented in Egypt to reprefs 
 ufury, and prevent the violent meafures of money- 
 lenders. The greatnefs of the evil is evident from 
 the very remedy. Among people who have much 
 internal traffic, and fcarcely any with ftrangers, the 
 merchants can only have fmall profit on their wares ; 
 and, therefore, they endeavour to gain largely on 
 money. This produces ufury, and the evil increafes 
 greatly, when bullion is ufed inftead of coin. We mail 
 find this to have been the cafe with the Egyptians, 
 who anciently had only an interior commerce. They 
 had not a fingle fhip at fea, while the Nile was co- 
 vered with a multitude of boats, fome of which were 
 made of baked earth. The fcarcity of wood there 
 was always extreme, but not more fo than the de- 
 gree of induftry it occafioned f. 
 
 We are ignorant of the revolutions fuflained by 
 commerce at different times in Egypt j but agricul- 
 
 * Scopsllfm confifted in placing fome ftones in the middle of a 
 field, to notify that the firft perfon who attempted to till it would 
 be aflaflinated. This crim is-faid to have been peculiar to the 
 Arabs ; and it is the confequcnce of their defective civil laws re- 
 ipeAing murder, and the avengers of blood. 
 
 f Thefe barks were the fmalleft kind of pbafell, called barn 
 by the Egyptians; they went with fails and oars 
 ParvulaJlfUllbusfoHtum (Lire vela pkafeiis, 
 Et brsvibus piflt remis incumbere tejlg. Juvenal. 
 
 ture
 
 i 4 o PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 ture appears to have been at all periods very flouriffo 
 ing. The foil required fcarcely any other expence 
 than what was necefiary for feed ; and fome grains, 
 fuch as the doura^ or millet, like the orintbis in 
 Ethiopia, multiply there mofl abundantly. Tillage 
 was no-where attended with fewer difficulties ; and 
 little labor was neceflary in conveying moifture to 
 the plantations with machines refembling chain- 
 pumps, which Diodorus feems to have confounded 
 with the fcrew of Archimedes; who went, fays he, 
 to teach that difcovery to the Egyptians. The fields, 
 however, were well watered there, long before the 
 days of Archimedes, whofe fcrew-pump is at this 
 day totally unknown from Cairo to the Cataract of 
 the Nile. Thus we perceive how eafy it was for the 
 hufbandmen of Egypt to repair their lofTes, after 
 having fuffered under tyrants, whofe hatred to the 
 laws extended afterwards to the inhabitants. In our 
 climates, on the contrary, agriculture is attended 
 with much greater expence in men, cattle, and in- 
 ftruments. When the farmers are half ruined by 
 imports, they can never recover themfelves by the 
 crops ; for it is demonftrated, that the lands always 
 bear lefs in proportion as the property of the culti- 
 vator increafes. Reiterated labor and manure re- 
 quire confiderable expenditure ; but articles of that 
 nature, fo important with us, are fcarcely counted for 
 any thing in Egypt. This explains clearly why that 
 country has fupported better than any other the de- 
 ftrudive government of the Turks ; and for the fame 
 reafon it might be rendered fiourifhing in a century, 
 
 while
 
 ON "THE EGYPTIANS AND CHIN' - 24* 
 
 while more than three hundred years \vouldbe re- 
 qoifite to produce the fame efrecl: on Greece. 
 
 Although our notions concerning the ancient di- 
 vifion of lands in Egypt are very confined, v r ^e 
 know with certainty, that the military port! r 
 of which confided of twelve arourae, paffed 
 thers to fons, and not to daughters It follows, 
 therefore, that the Greeks fpoke at random, when 
 they pretended that, according to the jurisprudence 
 of Egypt, daughters alone were obliged in every cafe 
 to maintain their parents, when old and infirm But 
 the obligation in fact extended only to affording 
 that attendance, which was out of the power of their 
 brothers, who, in the military and facerdotal fami- 
 lies, were frequently long abfent. The foldiers were 
 to do duty round the palace, every fecond year in. 
 rotation: the priefts were liable to be lent to Thebes 
 to adminifter juftice, or to difcharge the functions of 
 their miniftry ; and then it was impoffible for them 
 to pay particular attention to what paffed in the bo- 
 foiri of their families. It is not neceffary to repeat 
 here what has been already faid of the condition of 
 the women in Egypt, nor the laws relative to poly- 
 gamy, and the degrees of affinity which prevented 
 marriage. We have clearly proved that the union 
 of brother and fifl.er never took place there, until 
 after the death of Alexander. All the authors who 
 fpeak of that circumflance, fuch as Diodorus, Philo, 
 Seneca, and Paufanias, are very modern in conipa- 
 rifon with the ancient Egyptians. Philo, however, 
 is the only one who pretends that fuch marriages 
 
 VOL. ii. R, could
 
 a $ PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 could be contracted even between a brother and hi3 
 twin fifter *. We find, therefore, that this Jew 
 Imagined twins to be more clofely related than bro- 
 thers and fitters born fucceffively. But the idea was 
 altogether chimerical, and it would have been abfurd 
 to make this exception, when all the Greeks of 
 Alexandria were permitted to intermarry in the 
 firft degree of the collateral lines. Twins have no- 
 thing to diftinguifh them from other children born of 
 the fame father and mother, except that one of them 
 is fometimes weakly ; and yet this does not happen 
 fo conftantly that it can be confidered as a rule 
 of Nature. Yet if degeneration refults from in- 
 ceftuous connexion, the effect muft be moft obvious 
 on the offspring of a brother and fifter who are 
 twins, although fuch experiments, when made with 
 brutes, have feldom produced any remarkable ef- 
 fects. 
 
 Ancient authors would never have lavimed fo many 
 praifes on the legiflation of Egypt, had they been 
 fenfible of the imperfections of their own. We al* 
 lude here to perfonal flavery, which requires neceffa- 
 rily fo many bad laws, that even the good are cor- 
 rupted; for one great injuftice requires to be fup- 
 ported by many others. It mould be eftablilhed as 
 
 * De Spec. Leg. 6. 7. Selden believed that marriage be- 
 tween brother and fifter was firft known in Egypt under the Per* 
 lians : but this is an error. The ineeft of Cambyfes did not con- 
 cern the Egyptians ; and Seneca gives us diftinttly to underfland, 
 that no perfon married his fifter, except in Alexandria. 
 
 an
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 241 
 
 an eternal truth and an immutable principle, that 
 flavery is contrary to the law of Nature. Thus we 
 may form an opinion of thofe legiflators, who ufed 
 their authority and fanction to confirm, inttead of 
 aboliming, the abufe. No Egyptian had the power 
 of taking away the life of his flave ; and, by drawing 
 a few confequences from this law, the eyes of thofe, 
 who had fallen into fuch flrange contradictions, mould 
 have been opened. 
 
 As liberty and life are really infeparable, the matter 
 always preferved the power of death while he appeared 
 to be reftrained by the law. Few men in any age 
 have been guilty of murdering their flaves, but thofe 
 who caufed them to perim flowly by hard labour were 
 always very numerous. Thus we find that the law 
 can only prevent a matter from killing his flaves in 
 one manner, while he has the choice of a thoufand 
 others ; and in this confifts the contradiction. 
 
 Every thing relative to freedom by birth among 
 the Egyptians was entirely oppofite to the inftitutions 
 of the Romans, who adopted the abominable maxim, 
 that children mould follow the condition of their 
 mothers: but in all countries where polygamy is 
 eftablimed, it becomes indifpenfable that they mould 
 receive their rank from their father. No nation had 
 ever more imperfect ideas concerning fervitude than 
 the Romans. By the Claudian fenatus-confultum, 
 we find a woman was liable to lofe her liberty (a pu- 
 nimment equal to death), when convicted of any illi- 
 cit connexion with a flave. 
 
 R a
 
 +4 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 The fituations of thofe reduced to flavery in Egypt 
 were anciently very different ; for fome, \ve perceive 
 diftin&ly, had employments in the houfes, whilft 
 others, appointed to till the fields, might be com- 
 pared to our ferfs. As the greater part confifted of 
 ftrangers, either purchafed or made captives, it was ne- 
 ceffary to keep them apart, as long as they perfifted in 
 their own religion. If admitted as houfehold fervants, 
 they would have rendered every thing impure. This 
 inftitution was, in its nature, fo very defective, that 
 it required many bad laws to prevent revolts among 
 fuch people, who could the more eafily form confpi- 
 racies as they were not under the eye of their mailer. 
 It is probable that this occafioned fo many extraordi- 
 nary regulations to prevent murder ; and we fee, by 
 the cafe of Mofes, that they were net inftituted v.ith- 
 out reafon, although unexampled among the reft of 
 mankind. In other countries, not to affift a perfon 
 againft affaffins is confidered as cowardice ; but in 
 Egypt it was a capital crime *. The law for that ob- 
 ject, however, could fo eafily be eluded, that it mud 
 have been looked upon as non-extant. Nothing was 
 eafier than to allege numberlefs pretexts, to prove 
 the impoflibility of fuccouring an unfortunate man, 
 already in the hands of robbers. The legiflators, 
 fenfible of the greateft part of thefe inconveniencies, 
 propofed that the perfon, at lead, who did not de- 
 
 * Heliodorus feems to infinuate, that the fame law was found 
 among the Ethiopians, and that it concerned even the children 
 who were found, when expofed to perifh. 
 
 nounce
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 44-5 
 
 nounce the aggreflbrs, mould remain fome time in 
 prifon, and receive a certain number of (tripes. But 
 this law appears to have been annulled under the Pto- 
 lemies, when they entrufied the compofuion of their 
 code to Demetrius of Phaleris, who, as every perfon 
 knows, had to labor for monflers. 
 
 It is generally confidered as a very \vhimfical cir- 
 cumflance, that the Egyptians fhould have had parti- 
 cular phyficians for different diforders, and even for 
 the tooth-ach, to which they were fubjeft from chew- 
 ing green fugar-canes ; while the whole country did 
 not contain one barrifter, although the pleadings 
 were delivered in writing, according to the Greeks. 
 In that cafe, however, the priefts, v.-ho were found in 
 all the towns, muft have drawn up the petitions and 
 replies for thofe who could not read and write ; but, 
 in that point, the Egyptians in general feem not to 
 have been deficient *. When the bad cuftom of cit- 
 ing a heap of authors in juridical cafes is not adopted, 
 and no captious reafonings are introduced, fuch papers 
 can be difcufied very promptly, and ths Egyptians 
 were never allowed to prefent more than four in the 
 courfe of one procefs. The judges, on their fide, 
 confulted only ten volumes, and of thefe they com- 
 
 * According to the Egyptian laws, it \VJ.G ?. rrc-.it advantage to 
 be able to read and write; a. ive this part of 
 
 education to their children. The JiuLic la.^s fuppofcd alfo the 
 frequent ufe of writing, as well for the genealogies of the tribe; as 
 for contracts, bills of divorce, &c. But tiie Jews neglecled edu- 
 cation greatly ; and, in fome of the fmall towns, they^o/m'w were 
 the only people who could read or write. 
 
 R 3 mitted
 
 S4-5 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 mitted the greater part to memory *. Extraordinary 
 cafes, which had no place in this code, were decided 
 by a plurality of voices ; and it appears, by the mo- 
 nument now extant in Thebais, that the number of 
 judges was uneven. Thus the prefident did not turn 
 the image of Truth to either fide, unlefs when the 
 votes were equally divided. It would have been ab- 
 furd to decide in favor of thofe who had not ob- 
 tained this equality, becaufe the arbitrary procedure, 
 which was chiefly intended to be avoided, would then 
 have been admitted. The plurality of fuffrages at- 
 tracted always to their fide the emblem of Truth ; and 
 in that manner the procefs was terminated. No baf- 
 tinadoes were ever given there to the pleaders. But 
 the Chinefe fmother more law-fuits than they decide 
 judicially ; becaufe their government is defpotic, an>d 
 that of the Egyptians was monarchic, as may be de- 
 monftrated beyond contradiction. 
 
 It appears alfo, that, among the Egyptians, fome 
 points were referred to oath ; and not one word in 
 their whole hiitory gives reafon to foppofe that they 
 ever employed torture. Under the dominion of the 
 Greeks and Romans, experience proved that fuch 
 means were ineffectual to obtain a confeflion from 
 people, whofe obftinacy was exceffive. Thus an inftitu- 
 tion, which is abominable in any country, would have 
 been ufelefs in Egypt. Men of melancholy and gloomy 
 
 * Diodorus fpeaks only of eight volumes to which the jndgeS 
 applied ; but here Uvo volumes are fpoken of, which the prophets 
 had to iludy.
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 447 
 
 confutations, when expofed to a violent degree of pain, 
 foon lofe all fenfibility : they fuffer lefs in proportion 
 as the convulfion augments j and it \vas perhaps from 
 phyfical caufes, that the Egyptians reje&ed the tor- 
 ments of hell, and believed only in purgatory. As, 
 in certain cafes, folemn depositions were admitted as 
 proofs of facts, it became neceffary to place perjury in 
 the number of capital crimes. Murder belonged al- 
 ways to the fame clafs, except when a father killed 
 his own child ; and then his punifhment confided in 
 holding publicly the dead body in his arms during 
 three days : but the parricide had to fuller the moft 
 dreadful execution ever exhibited in that country *. 
 This likewife has been fuppofed, without reafon, to 
 difcover fome connexion with what is praclifed by the 
 Chinefe. The greater part of ancient nations enter- 
 tained fimilar fentiments ; and we have to lament that 
 fome fhould have been fo barbarous and unjuft as to 
 chaftife imaginary crimes, fuch as herefy and forcery, 
 by more cruel punifliments than thofe inflicted on the 
 depraved wretch who plunged a dagger into the heart 
 of a parent. On the other hand, the Egyptians were 
 certainly to blame for not preferving fome proportion 
 in the manner of teftifying the abhorrence of the 
 murder of a father and of a fon. When Nature has 
 eftablifhed an evident relation, it mould always be 
 
 * This punifliment confifted in piercing the body of the criminal 
 v/ith reeds, and burning him in thorns. It has no refemblance 
 whatever to the method of cutting a perfon into a thoufand pieces, 
 pradifed in China, where it is fuppofed to be a more modern 
 invention, 
 
 R 4 refge&ed
 
 S4 S PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 refpected by the legiflator. We muft however ac- 
 knowledge, that the notions of the Egyptians, with 
 regard to paternal authority, were lefs defective than 
 thofe of the Greeks and Romans. But the Chinefe 
 appear to have always had the fnocking maxim, that 
 children mould not be confidered as human beings, 
 until they had received their mothers' milk. This 
 opinion, according to a learned lawyer, prevailed 
 likewife among the ancient Romans *; and it appears 
 no difficult matter to affign the caufe. Infanticide 
 could be committed only by the father, according to 
 the decree of Romulus, and then with the ccnfent of 
 the mother. From this proceeded the barbarous dif- 
 tinction between children who had fucked, and thofe 
 ne\ ir admitted to the bread. When the mother 
 once began to nurfe her child, me was confidered as 
 inter. '! ug "^ preferve it; and then infanticide could 
 no longer be allowed even with the confent of both 
 parlies. Thofe, who poflefTed fuch bad morals, muft 
 nece "-'rilv [ ive had worfe phyfics ; and the prejudice 
 v.'a:- ; .biifhed, that children began to be human 
 
 bei., when they received the breaft. 
 
 c great deference mown by the Egyptians to- 
 id men, was common to ?11 the mod ancient 
 nations of the earth. It is the only refpect known in 
 favage life ; and civil government originated through 
 its influence, and not from paternal authority, which 
 could never extend beyond a family. Royalty is de- 
 
 * Ger. Noodt, de partus Expofiti'one et Nece apud Veteres. 
 Liber fingularis. 
 
 rived
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. a,^ 
 
 rived from the power of the caciques, or captains, 
 chofen by the old men to command expeditions where 
 they themfelves could not aft. This appeared to me 
 mod evidently, when my ftudies were directed to trace 
 the origin of focial life in America, where, from be- 
 ing more modern, it is lefs obfcure. 
 
 As the ancient inhabitants of our continent in ge- 
 neral have given by far too much latitude to paternal 
 power ; had this, inftead of the authority of the old 
 men, been the foundation of government, a real def- 
 potilm would have refulted in the ftate, as well as in 
 each family. Yet we find no fuch effects in any 
 country ; and, if the Chinefe pretend the contrary, 
 they are grofsly miftaken. When one hundred and 
 twenty kings, or great caciques, reigned in China, not 
 one of them all dared to call bimklt father and mother 
 oftheftate: but as foon as the emperors, by force of 
 arms and every fpecies of injuilice, had expelled the 
 kings they aflumed whatever titles fuiced their fancy. 
 Thus the cafe of the Chinefe was exactly the fame 
 with that of the Romans ; when they bad fatten of 
 the country, their liberty was gone. Let all the die- 
 tionaries and languages of the world be examined, 
 and they cannot lead to the flighteft idea that ever, 
 unlefs in a figurative fenfe, the title of king had any 
 connexion with that of father. 
 
 The government of ancient Egypt was really mo- 
 narchic by the form of its conftitution. Limits were 
 fixed to the fovereign power ; the order of fucceilion 
 in the ro>al family was regulated, and the adminiftra- 
 tion of juftice entrafted to a particular body, whofe 
 
 credit
 
 - S o PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 credit could counterbalance the authority of the Pha- 
 raohs. The king had no right to judge or pronounce 
 in any civil caufe, and the judges, at their inftallation, 
 contracted the mod folemn engagement not to obey 
 him, in cafe he ordered them to iffue an unjuft fen- 
 tence. Befides the college of thirty, flationary at 
 Thebes, and the particular magiftrates of towns who 
 pronounced in certain cafes *, the provinces fent de- 
 puties at times to meet in the labyrinth, and difcufs 
 affairs of (late, fuppofed to be relative to taxation. 
 Diodorus Siculus affures us, that the kings of Egypt 
 could not tax their fubjects arbitrarily, which, he ob^ 
 ferves, is the greateft fcourge of other ftates ; and 
 then he infinuates, that the facerdotal clafs had the 
 inflection of the finances. This leaves room to fup- 
 pofe, that the confent of the provinces was neceflary 
 for levying new impofts. 
 
 We now fee the error of maintaining, that the an- 
 cients had no idea of true monarchical government. 
 Mr. Montefquieu perceived no traces of it among 
 them, becaufe he did not look where they were to be 
 found ; and he flops to confider the kings of fome 
 ftates of ancient Greece, who pronounced fentences 
 in civil caufes. But this ufage, fo oppofite to the 
 
 * Anciently, fays Orus Apollo, the magiftrates of Egypt 
 judged and faw the king naked Regem nudum fpeftabat. The 
 meaning of this is obfcure ; and Mr. de Pau\v, canon of Utrecht, 
 does not feem to have underftood the 39th chapter of Hierogly- 
 phics, on which he has given notes. When the king came to the 
 affcmbly of judges, he had to lay hfide his cloak or upper garment, 
 called calal'.ris ; probably, to fnow that he did not judge himfelf. 
 
 principles
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 251 
 
 principles of monarchy; was never pra&ifed in Egypt. 
 We fpeak here of the actions of princes, and not of 
 tyrants. 
 
 According to a fundamental law in that country, 
 royalty was incompatible with the pontificate*. When 
 the fervile defpotifm of the nations inhabiting warm 
 climates is confidered, as well as what the men of 
 fuch countries dare attempt, and how much they can 
 fuffer, we are led to admire the wifdom of the Egyp- 
 tians in oppofing this barrier to defpotifm. The want 
 of fimilar precautions brought ruin on the nations of 
 Alia, where the princes got pofleflion of the prieft- 
 hood, or rendered it removable, as in Turkey and 
 Perfia. The muftis and fudres are as little certain of 
 preferving their dignity, as the high-priefls of the 
 Jews, who, towards the clofe of that monarchy, fel- 
 dom held the priefthood during three years. Such 
 Haves are incapable of defending the rights of the 
 people, becaufe they cannot protect themfelves ; and 
 if their defliny did not depend on the caprice of the 
 prince, it would be determined by the intrigues of 
 the feraglio. In Egypt, on the contrary, the pontiffs 
 were always permanent, and the eldefl fon conftantly 
 fucceeded his father in that office, nearly in the fame 
 manner that it remained in the family of Aaron, be- 
 fore the Hebrews became the fport of defpots. 
 
 * As Herodotus faw the ftatues of all the kings, and thofe of 
 
 all the pontiffs in particular, it may be confidered as a proof that, 
 
 before the time of Sstfan, no pontiff was ever king. Perhaps, 
 
 a would not abdicate the pontificate when he came to the 
 
 throne. 
 
 At
 
 5 * PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 At length, however, from fome caufe unknown to 
 us, it happened in Egypt that Sethon, who inherited 
 the prielthod, attained the throne likewife. The two 
 powers being thus united in the fame perfon, the flute 
 became. fo completely overturned, that it could never 
 afterwards be replaced in its former equilibrium. The 
 foldiers murmured, becaufe fome of their lands were 
 confifcated ; and the people complained that the mili- 
 tary had betrayed the country at a moment when par- 
 ticular interefts mould have yielded to the public 
 good. In the midft of thefe troubles, that the mafs 
 of power might be divided, twelve governors were 
 chofen to reign jointly. But this oligarchic confli- 
 tution could not re-eft ablifh the monarchy, becaufe it 
 was never effectual even in a republic, although fo 
 frequently tried in ancient times. The refult of this 
 was real defpotifm, which continued from the time of 
 Pfammetichus to the invafion of Cambyfes. All thofe 
 princes kept in pay a crowd of mercenaries, who, 
 ever fmce the world exiiled, have been the inftru- 
 ments and fupport of arbitrary power. At this epoch 
 fhould be fixed the evident change which took place 
 in the character of the Egyptians, who then began to 
 hate their kings. Even Amafis, to whom they were 
 in appearance reconciled, had to keep a flrong Greek 
 garrifon in Memphis, to guard himfelf in the midft 
 of his dominions againft fubjecls, who had once been 
 enthufiaflic in their attachment to the Pharaohs. They 
 pardoned many vices and weakneffes in thofe princes, 
 and even allowed them to reign, when deprived of 
 fight, as we find from feveral inftances 5 for the Egyp 
 
 tians
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 453 
 
 lians were much afflicted with cecity. It is furprifing 
 that in other eaftern empires, particularly in Perfia, 
 Mogul, and Turkey, where the blind might be capa- 
 ble of governing, a quite contrary regulation has been 
 eftablifhed. Were any thing of the kind now to hap- 
 pen in the monarchies of Europe, the lawyers would 
 moll probably be puzzled to folve the difficulty ; but 
 the Egyptians founded their conduct on birth-right, 
 which, among them, was facred and inviolable. 
 They conceived it therefore to be unjufl to deprive a 
 perfon of his patrimony on account of an indifpofl- 
 tion, already fufficiently fatal in itfelf. This might 
 be admitted with regard to private fuccefiions ; but, 
 when the obligation of governing a people was an- 
 nexed, they mould at lead have given tutors to their 
 blind princes, among whom we find the children of 
 Sefoftris and Pharaoh Anyfis. Were we to believe 
 Herodotus, it would appear that the cecity of the 
 latter in particular may be confidered as having been 
 productive of misfortunes ; for it was in his reign that 
 the Perfians invaded Egypt *. 
 
 When the reigning family was extinct, the crown 
 became elective ; and we have all the formilities ufed 
 on fuch occafions minutely defcribed by Synefius. 
 The foldiers and priefts alone had active and paffive 
 votes, although Diodorus pretends that the reft of the 
 
 * The name of Pharaoh Anyfis is not found in the dynafties of 
 Manetho, becaufe it was merely borrowed. Bocchoris is generally 
 believed to be the fame perfon with Anyfis. Cecity, however, 
 \y.as not incurable in Egypt, and this might have influenced 
 the legiflator. 
 
 people
 
 5 4- PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 people were equally noble with the military and facer- 
 dotal tribes. But he fhould at leaft have excepted that 
 unfortunate clafs, fo much detefled in Egypt, and not 
 even permitted to enter the temples. We have al* 
 ready fpoken of thofe men, who appear to me to have 
 been Africans of a foreign origin. They fpoke amongft 
 themfelves the Punic language, and were held by the 
 Egyptians in a ftate between perfonal flavery and 
 liberty. This was likewife the cafe with the Helots 
 at Lacedaemon, the Corynophores at Sicyon, the 
 Peneftes in Theffaly, the'Clarotes in Crete, the Gym- 
 nites in different parts of Greece, the Profpelates in 
 Arcadia, the Leleges in Caria, the Mariandynes at 
 Heraclea, and finally the Jews, who, after the expul- 
 lion of the fhepherd kings, were exaclly in the fame 
 condition. Herodotus fays pofitively, that the Punic 
 language was fpoken in the neighbourhood of the 
 town of Apis, and the lake Mareotis, amongft certain 
 families fubjected to the Egyptians *. This caft, fo 
 much abhorred by the Egyptians, formed at length, 
 according to every opinion, the republic of robbers ; 
 and Strabo defcribes the little monarchy of the Jews 
 as degenerated likewife into a confederation of ban- 
 ditti. We have reafon to believe, that flaves, em- 
 ployed in cultivating the earth, are liable to contract 
 a peculiarly bad character. Several focieties have 
 
 * The language fpoken of here muft not be confounded with 
 the Carthaginians. It was properly the Libyan idiom. As the 
 Egyptians came originally from Ethiopia, they neither underftood 
 Arabic, Libyan, Phenician, nor the jargon of the Jews, which 
 fcems to have been a dialed of the latter. 
 
 beeiji
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 255 
 
 been formed in America by negroes, who efcaped 
 from the planters ; but their policy and laws are al- 
 ways fo wretched, that, like the Paulifts, they be* 
 come republics of thieves. 
 
 As the military in Egypt were far more numerous 
 than the priefts of the firft and fecond rank, the pro- 
 phets had a vote equal to one hundred foldiers, the 
 comaftas to twenty, and the zacori to ten *. All the 
 meafures taken to procure tranquillity in thofe critical 
 times, when the ftate floated between contending par- 
 ties, could not prevent the elections from being fre- 
 quently diflurbed by the intrigues of the candidates. 
 Some traces of this confufion are fuppofed to be found 
 in the hiftory of the feventy Pharaohs, who reigned 
 during as many days, probably from having difputed 
 concerning the plurality of votes. This ftory could 
 not have been founded, as people pretend, on an ir- 
 ruption of foreign enemies, who in lefs than three 
 months inflicted death on feventy of the governors of 
 Egypt. The whole number of prefectories did not 
 exceed twenty-feven, as we perceive by the conftruc- 
 tion of the labyrinth, where the deputies of the dif- 
 ferent nomes aflembled, previoufly to the conqueft of - 
 the Perfians f . 
 
 * Prolaio alicujus ex candidate norn'm?, tnllitis qu'ufem mantis toU 
 lunt, comafla wo et *ecori tt prefect* calcuks ferunt ; panel aliqul ; 
 fed quorum fracipaa ej. ea In re auSorltas, prophetarum nempe ; calculus 
 centum manus .squat. Coma/tar am vigintl, zaccrorum d;c:m. Syn. 
 de Providen. 
 
 This number is found in all the copies of Strabo ; but, in my 
 opinion, the nomes confided only of twelve great, and as many
 
 * 5 5 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 In very ancient times, the kings were confecrated 
 at Thebes ; but that ftrange ceremony was afterwards 
 performed at Memphis. The prince carried the yoke 
 of the bull Apis, and a fceptre made like the Theban 
 plough, ufed at this day in cultivating the fields of 
 Sais, and fome parts of Arabia, as we find by the 
 figure publimed by Mr. Niebuhr *. Thus equipped, 
 he was led through a part of the town, and thence to 
 the Adytori) which feems to have been a vault. Fa- 
 ther Martini, by the mod whimfical idea poffible, fup- 
 pofes it to have been trie town of Abydus, eighty-three 
 leagues diftant from Memphis. That man muft have 
 imagined that the fame mode prevailed in Egypt as 
 in his own country, where the kings go from Paris to 
 Rheims to be confecrated. 
 
 When a prince was eledted from the military clafs, 
 he paused, at the moment of his inauguration, into the 
 prieflhood, and this required fome particular cere- 
 monies moft probably as well as oaths. The Pha- 
 raohs could in no cafe difpenfe, as we have already 
 obferved, with fwearing that they would neither in- 
 tercalate a day nor a month in the undeternrned year, 
 to render it fixed or lunary. In this point they kept 
 
 * Scholiaft. German, in Aral. The Scholia of Ariftophanes, 
 on the Comedy of the Birds, fay, that, on the top of the fceptre 
 of the Egyptian kings, was the figure of a flork, and, on the 
 other end, the figure of a hippopotamus. But they feem to have 
 had different kinds of fceptres, according to what is handed dov/n 
 by the ancients ; and the moft common of all reprefcnted a plough- 
 This was carried by the kings, as well as by the priells of Egypt 
 and Ethiopia. 
 
 their
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 257 
 
 their word more religioufly than in many others of 
 much greater confequence. 
 
 As thofe, who attained the throne by the voice of 
 the foldiers and priefts, always gave the name of the 
 town where they were born, and not that of their 
 family, to the new dynafty, it is not extraordinary to 
 find in hiftory the Pharaohs of Elephantis. Chrono- 
 logifts, by not attending to this natural fact, have 
 been forced to invent a particular monarchy in the 
 little ifland of Elephantis, which was not more exten- 
 five than a country feat in Europe with walks and 
 gardens. The valley of Egypt grows very narrow 
 immediately above the town of Ombos ; and by even 
 allowing this pretended kingdom all the territory on 
 the banks of the Nile, it could never be independent 
 either of the kings of Ethiopia or of Egypt. 
 
 Marfham is the firft author who ever pretended, 
 that Egypt confided anciently of feveral kingdoms ; 
 and it is to be lamented, that a man, who had ac- 
 quired fo much erudition, mould have been deficient 
 in genius and judgment. He was perfecuted by fana- 
 tics as an unbeliever ; and never was any man more 
 credulous ; for he pretended that the Egyptian mo- 
 narchy had been founded in the year immediately 
 following the deluge ; and what he relates of Cham, 
 who is called by him the firft king of the Egyptians, 
 is more worthy of a Jewifh rabbin than an Englifh 
 chronologifl. Neither Cham nor Meftraim was ever 
 fpoken of in ancient Egypt, which undoubtedly de- 
 rives its name from the word Kypt ; and De Hoorn be- 
 Jieves, that the fame appellation was common to a 
 VOL. u. s part
 
 258 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 part of Eih-opia *. Unfortunately, too many writer 
 have introduced Jewifh traditions into hiftory ; and, 
 from that circumftance, the progrefs of knowledge 
 has been greatly retarded. 
 
 The Egyptians undoubtedly in forne points exag- 
 gerated their antiquity. When they fpeak of perfons 
 who lived a thoufand years, it is clear, fays Pliny, 
 that they at firft counted by lunations f. But, in 
 fact, the period attributed to the life of one perfon 
 might be the duration of a dynafly or family, accord- 
 ing to the manner of fpeaking in the Eaft. Let it be 
 fuppofed, that the tribe of Beni-WaJsi had been fcat- 
 tered throughout the heights of Thebais during fix 
 centuries ; the Arabs, who never count by the lives 
 of individuals, would fay, that the age of Beni-WaJJ'd 
 was fix hundred years. This invariable manner of 
 bearing the name of their founder, is well adapted to 
 preferve the epoch of a race of men, who have no ar- 
 chives. The lame mode may perhaps be found among 
 the free hordes of Tartars ; but thole who are fub- 
 je&ed, preferve only the genealogy of their kans, 
 whofe families become frequently extinct. 
 
 * Bocl.ai t has abufed De Hoorn, without any neceflity, con- 
 c i.injr what he lays of the Ethiopians. Although the Greeka 
 coined the word Attkiops to denote a race of black people, the 
 derivation of it might perhaps be concealed in the term Kofi or 
 Kypt. 
 
 j- Annum enim alii a/late unum deternunabant et alterum hyeme. . . , 
 in hin<r fenio ut JEgypt'ii, liaque apud eot ali^in etjingula annorum 
 : produniur. Lib. 7. " I have decked my bed with 
 tapcflry and linen of Egypt." Proverbs, chap. vii. 
 
 The
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. *$* 
 
 The Dynafties of Manethon, however, are not ne- 
 ceffary to prove the great antiquity of the Egyptians ; 
 for it is demonftrated by the progrefs they had made 
 in the arts in very diflant ages. At the conqueft of 
 the Macedonians, they were fo far advanced, that 
 nothing was wanting to the greatefl degree of perfec- 
 tion, but that elegance and nicenefs of tafte, which 
 can never be attained by the inhabitants of the Eaft, 
 becaufe of their defedive organs, and difordered ima- 
 gination. The manufactures of glafs and tapeftry, 
 fo celebrated under the Ptolemies, had been efta- 
 blifhed long before the days of thofe princes ; and the 
 carpets of Egypt particularly formed part of the mer- 
 chandife tranlported into Afia by the ifthmus of Suez. 
 Of this more fliail be faid, when we come to examine 
 what might have been the annual revenues of the 
 Pharaohs, to whom the fir ft legiflators of Egypt had 
 prefcribed many rules and maxims preferved in the 
 Hermetic Collection. From that book the paflages in 
 Diodorus were probably extracted, which declare that 
 thofe princes could never keep flaves, whether born 
 in Egypt, or purchafed in foreign countries. They 
 were required to take their attendants from children 
 of priefts, who did not enter into the fervice of the 
 court until they had attained their twentieth year. 
 This law was far from being obferved ; for when the 
 Pharaohs introduced flaves into their feraglio, they 
 committed them to the care of eunuchs, who were 
 certainly neither freemen, nor chofen out of the facer- 
 dotal clafs, Diodorus pretends likewife, that the 
 kings were obliged to perufe all the letters they re- 
 
 s 3 ceived.
 
 Mo PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 ceived, to attend prayers daily, and hear fome pafiage 
 read in the Annals of the country. Many pretexts 
 might however have been found for difpenfing with 
 fuch ceremonies, when the allurements of pleafure, 
 or idlenefs, which is the greateft enjoyment in warm 
 climates, rendered them irkfome. 
 
 It cannot be too frequently repeated, that, in read- 
 ing the hiflory of Egypt, the laws really in force 
 ihould be diftinguimed from the ancient inftitutions 
 found only in books. Had this not been the cafe, 
 the priefts could never have fpoken of a long lift of 
 indolent kings, who flumbered in feraglios, and re- 
 ceived, like the reft, fepulchral honors. We have 
 reafon to believe, contrary to the common opinion, 
 that the people never poffeifed the right of refufmg 
 burial. Such a cuftom would not have produced any 
 good effect in Egypt, where the father was always 
 fucceeded on the throne by his eldeft fon, as long as thq 
 roya' family remained. In that cafe, the young prince 
 muft have been the implacable enemy of thofe whq 
 refufed to let his father be interred ; and it was, be- 
 fides, an eafy matter for him to have the mummy con- 
 veyed fecretly into fome vault. 
 
 Diodorus indeed fays, that the Pharaohs, who, 
 according to him, conftru&ed the two great pyra- 
 mids, had not dared to have their bodies depofited 
 there, through fear that they might be thrown out by 
 the people ; but this was a vulgar report, totally un- 
 known to Herodotus, Very little reflection is necef- 
 fary to perceive that thofe princes muft have had more 
 fenfe than to rear pyramids for their tombs, while 
 
 fhey
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. a g x 
 
 they knew fo well that their interment there was im- 
 practicable. The Greeks, having once taken into 
 their heads that the pyramids were the tombs of the 
 Pharaohs, would never allow themfelves to be per- 
 fuaded to the contrary, although the Egyptians de- 
 clared pofitively that no corpfe of any king was ever 
 depofited in any of the pyramids, and that thofe mo- 
 numents were erected by the nation, and not by 
 particular princes. Hiftory contains one faft very 
 decifive in proving that the Egyptians never thought 
 of refufmg burial to their bad kings. One of the 
 defpotic Pharaohs, called Apries, who was fuppofed to 
 have committed many atrocious crimes, incurred the 
 refentment of the people to fuch a great degree, that 
 they infifted on having him delivered into their hands, 
 when he was vanquifhed by Amafis. After he had 
 been flrangled in their fury, his body was placed in 
 the tomb of his fathers, at the entrance of the temple 
 of the Minerva of Sais, where all the Pharaohs of the 
 Saite tribe were depofited. 
 
 The opinion hazarded by fome modern writers, 
 concerning the anonymous kings found in the Cata- 
 logue of Dynafties, mould not be credited. They pre- 
 tended that their names werefuppreiTed, becaufe their 
 hands had been fullied with blood, or ill-acquired 
 riches. As the memory of tyrants muft be devoted 
 to execration in every age, it would be rendering 
 them a fervice to efface them entirely from the annals. 
 But the priefts, who were not fo filly, wrote both 
 names and events with great fidelity *. 
 
 * Eufeb. Praepar. Evang. lib. i o. 
 
 s 3 Bad
 
 a6a PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 Bad princes no longer fear future cenfure, fince 
 flattery has lucceeded in corrupting hidcrical faith ; 
 and this evil originated among the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans. If the Catalogue of the Dynafties contains 
 fome anonymous perfons, that circumftance mould be 
 attributed to the negligence of the compilers. Eufe- 
 bius, for example, has omitted the names of feveral 
 Pharaohs preferved by Julius Africanus; and we know 
 to a certainty that the Hiftory of Manethon mentions 
 Achthoes as the mod cruel and unjud of all the kings 
 of Egypt. Thus we find how little the prieds were 
 difpofed to fupprefs the names of tyrants ; otherwife, 
 the monder Achthoes mud have been now unknown. 
 Orus Apollo allures us, that, when the name of a 
 wicked king was to be inferted in hieroglyphical re- 
 cords, it was ordained to be written in alphabetical 
 characters *, The priefls denoted foreign ufurpers by 
 fymbolical terms familiar to all the people ; and every 
 Egyptian knew that the king of Perfia, called by us 
 Ochus, was furnamed among them the Afs. 
 
 According to a very ancient cudom, the high pried 
 had to pronounce a public difcourfe when the corpfe 
 of a king was carried to the tomb, after a mourning 
 of feventy days, which we know was the precife 
 time neceflary for the embalmers to prepare the 
 
 mummy. In this harangue confided the judgment 
 
 * Regem ffimum Jtgnifcantes t ang'uem fii/.-^itr.t in orlls 
 
 Hgurarn ; cujus can Jam on admcroent : ticmsn vero regis in media 
 revolutions fcnlun'. Kiero, lib. i. Alphabetical characters are 
 fornetimes feen with the hieroglyphics on the monuments ; and of 
 this what Orus fays here is a proof. 
 
 pan"ed
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. aSj 
 
 pa{Ted on the dead Pharaohs, who were praifed for 
 different qualities, but chiefly, as Porphyry fays, for 
 fobriety, becaufe that virtue fuppofes many others, par- 
 ticularly in fovereigns. 
 
 Private people were probably never refufed burial, 
 unlefs when the creditors oppofed it juridically. This 
 made the Greeks imagine that people were found 
 among the Egyptians, who advanced money on an 
 embalmed body, and that the contract was juftified 
 by law. This mifcake is truly ridiculous. As the 
 want of burial was confidered as a fpecies of infamy, 
 the creditor arrefted the corpfe of the debtor, and did 
 not allow it to be buried until the relations payed the 
 debt. Such pretenfions could be difcuffed before the 
 ordinary magiflrate of every town ; and it was abfurd 
 to fuppofe that one tribunal, eftablifhed at Memphis, 
 had to acquit or condemn all thofe who died in 
 Egypt. It was befides alleged, that the fentence 
 could not be pronounced until after a rigid examina- 
 tion of the whole life of each perfon ; and this, in- 
 ftead of a fingle tribunal, would have required one- 
 fourth of the nation. In fact, the power of feizing 
 on the dead body of a debtor was only a modification 
 of the Egyptian law, which prevented him from being 
 imprifoned while alive. 
 
 As the Pharaohs were generally inftructed in the 
 fciences from their infancy, many of them wrote 
 books ; but they have had the misfortune to be en- 
 tirely deftroyed. This has been the cafe with fo many 
 of the kings of antiquity, that we are almoft tempted 
 to believe, that their productions were not worthy of 
 
 s 4 being
 
 a4 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 being preferved. The works of Alexander the Great , 
 of the emperor Auguftus, Tiberius, Caligula, Clau- 
 dius, Nero, Ptolemy Philometer, Archelaus, and 
 many other princes, to whom might be added Han- 
 nibal, Lucullus, Sylla, and Mecasnas, are fo entirely 
 loft, that even the titles of the greater part are un- 
 known. The lead part of the writings of Julius 
 Csefar now remain, and a kind of veneration for the 
 memory of Marcus Aurelius and Julian has made 
 them exceptions to the general rule. Yet, in the 
 days of Pliny, fome books were ftill found with the 
 name of Nzcepfos ; but whatever Firmicus may fay to 
 the contrary, thofe works feem to have been produced 
 in later ages by fome famifhed Greek, who boldly 
 took the name of Pharaoh Necepfos. That prince re- 
 ceived the moft pompous titles from the aflrologers ; 
 they ftyled him the chief of authors, and fuperlatively 
 learned in aftrology, becaufe he had really written on 
 the influence of the ftars. His works are therefore 
 not fo much to be regretted as thofe of fome other 
 Pharaohs, who appear to have been truly defirous of 
 information ; yet we mufl not believe that they ever 
 made fuch experiments as Herodotus has attributed 
 to Pfammetichits. That prince, fays he, caufed two 
 infants to be reared, without having an opportunity 
 of hearing any converfation : his object in this was to 
 know what language the children would ufe, that he 
 might terminate all the contefts of the inhabitants of 
 Egypt and Phrygia, concerning their refpe&ive anti- 
 quity. Herodotus was credulous enough to believe 
 that the firfl word they fpoke was Phrygian. 
 
 Thofe,
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 265 
 
 Thofe, who are defirous of knowing the origin of 
 this abfurd (lory, may be fatisfied that it was founded 
 (imply on the circumftance of Pfammetichus having 
 given fome Egyptian children to be inftructed in the 
 language of the Greeks. With regard to the Phry- 
 gians, they were ridiculed with the name of Beccos- 
 lenes, on account of their pretended antiquity : they 
 called themfelves older than the moon, and cited, as 
 a proof of their pretenfions, the experiment made in 
 Egypt, when the children uttered the word beccos *. 
 
 The predominating paffion of the Pharaohs was 
 building ; and this led to the erroneous opinion of 
 their great riches. Under their fway no commerce 
 was carried on either in the Mediterranean or Red 
 Sea ; and, although the Arabs and Phenicians 
 brought caravans through the ifthmus of Suez, yet 
 the balance of that trade was not always in favor of 
 the Egyptians. Afia furnimed them with oil of olives, 
 incenfe for the facrifices and fumigations, Judaic 
 bitumen, refm of cedar, drugs for embalming bodies, 
 myrrh, and aromatics. Such articles were never 
 cheap in ancient times. Thus when we fuppofe that 
 the Egyptians, by means of their grain, linen, ta- 
 peftry, glafs, and other wrought wares, could barter 
 with the caravans of Afia, it was not a fource fufficient 
 to enrich the kings, who levied no imports on the 
 land poflefTed by the militia or the facerdotai clafs. 
 Their only refource was in cultivating the royal do- 
 
 * This word fignifies bread in Phrygian, which I believe was 
 called belo in the Egyptian language. The difference between this 
 acd lf;cos was not very great. 
 
 mains,
 
 266 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 mains, exacting a trifling toll on the Nile, and taxmg 
 to a certain degree the property . of private perfons. 
 The commerce of Ethiopia was certainly very advan- 
 tageous for the Egyptian merchants, \vho received 
 thence great quantities of gold duft, part of which 
 now pafies to the weftern coafl of Africa ; fome cir- 
 . culates in Barbary ; and the reft (till comes to Cairo. 
 Mr. Maillet, however, exaggerates greatly, when he 
 calculates the gold tranfported annually into Egypt by 
 the Numidian caravans at twelve hundred quintals. 
 Bofman fays pofiiively, that, in his time, all the coaft 
 of Guinea afforded only feven thoufand marks, which 
 Mr. Maillet, or his compiler, the abbe Mafcrier, has 
 converted into quintals *. The ancients amplified 
 nearly in the fame proportion what related to Arabia 
 Felix : that poor and barren country has frequently 
 excited admiration in the inhabitants of other coun- 
 tries, who would lofe prodigioufly by an exchange. 
 
 Nothing is more uncertain than the exigence of 
 thofe gold mines, faid to have been poffefifed by the 
 kings of Egypt. Hecateus eftimates their product, in 
 his common way, at an incredible fum ; and Diodo- 
 rus places them on the confines of Arabia, Ethiopia, 
 and Egypt. Their fituation muft therefore have been 
 nearly the fame with that of the emerald mines, and, 
 confequently, beyond the territory of the Egyptians. 
 That diftrict belonged either to the Troglodytes or 
 Ethiopians : and it was really the latter who collected 
 the gold among the fand of rivers and torrents, or 
 
 * Defcription of Egypt, part ai. 
 
 procured
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 267 
 
 procured it in the manner [now pra&ifed by the 
 Africans. 
 
 In fact, the revenues of the Pharaohs were far from 
 amounting to twelve hundred thoufand pounds fler- 
 ling annually, prior to the reign of Pfammetichus, 
 who made great changes in the finances, and in com- 
 merce. Under the, Ptolemies, Egypt had the whole 
 commerce of India, of the eaftern coaft of Africa, 
 Arabia, and Ethiopia, befides what was derived from 
 the navigation of the Mediterranean. Yet the annual 
 revenue of Ptolemy Auletes did not exceed two mil- 
 lions four hundred and twenty-two thoufand pounds. 
 But, as that prince was faid to have neglected his 
 finances more than any of his predeceffors, we (hall 
 examine the (late of the revenues under Ptolemy Phi- 
 ladelphus, when Egypt, according to hiflorians, was 
 exceedingly flourifhing. 
 
 Philadelphus received every year two millions eight 
 hundred and fixty-feven thoufand pounds in money, 
 and fifteen millions of final! meafures of wheat*. 
 Thus from his reign to that of Ptolemy Auletes, 
 father to Cleopatra, the derangement of the finances 
 had produced a diminution of only four hundred and 
 forty-five thqufand pounds. This was far from being 
 an object fo considerable as Strabo pretends ; and 
 Philadelphus muft have had other important poflef- 
 fions out of Egypt, otherwife he could never have 
 maintained fuch an anny as is mentioned by Appianf. 
 
 * lero on the ninth C'-apter cf Daniel. The number of mea- 
 fures of grain feems exaggerated. 
 f Prstf. ad Libros Belior. Civil. 
 
 The
 
 i6S PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 The reglfters of the court of Alexandria make the 
 whole armed force to have confided of two hundred 
 and forty thoufand men, who, if maintained and paid 
 as at the prefent day, would have confumed three 
 millions and a half annually. It is very poffible that 
 the troops were not fo numerous ; for, befides the 
 fufpicions fuggefted by Polybius, many are perfuaded 
 that Appian doubled the real number of horfes. 
 That man was born in Alexandria, and he lied for the 
 honor of his country. 
 
 "When Egypt was fhut towards the Arabian gulph, 
 as well as the Mediterranean, the revenues of the 
 Pharaohs could never have amounted to twelve hun- 
 dred thoufand pounds. It mould be obferved, that 
 the Ptolemies feem to have referved the commerce of 
 India for their private advantage ; and the wares of 
 ethers had to pay very heavy duties at different ports 
 on the Nile. Thus Philadelphus received the greatefl 
 part of his riches from another fource than Egypt, 
 which did not then contain more than three millions 
 of inhabitants. Jofephus was guilty of an unpardon- 
 able error in making its population amount to eight 
 millions in the reign of Nero, after all the miferies 
 the country had fuffered under the laft Ptolemies and 
 the firft Csefars. 
 
 We do not here make any allowance for the differ- 
 ence which fome have imagined in the value of fpecie; 
 for it muft then have been nearly the fame as at pre- 
 fent. The quantity is now indeed much greater ; but 
 the circulation has alfo become far more extenfive 
 than in former times. When Philadelphus reigned 
 
 in
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 369 
 
 in Egypt, the ufe of gold and filver was fcarcely known 
 in France, Spain, and England ; but thofe metals 
 had no circulation whatever in either Germany, Po 
 land, Sweden, or Denmark. As fpecie was then 
 concentred among the nations inhabiting the coafts 
 and iflands of the Mediterranean, that abundance 
 prevented any great augmentation of its value. 
 
 That the riches of the ancient Pharaohs have been 
 greatly exaggerated muft appear from the following 
 direct proof. Herodotus, in a fpecification of the 
 tributes levied by Darius, fon of Hyftafpes, on the 
 countries he had fubdued, mentions the contribution 
 of Afiyria, including Babylon, as conF.fting of one 
 thoufand talents, and five hundred emafculated chil- 
 dren annually for the ufe of the feraglio. But the whole 
 of Egypt, Barca, Cirene, and another canton of Africa, 
 had to pay altogether only feven hundred talents. 
 That fum indeed was exclufive of the fupplies in grain 
 for maintaining an hundred and twenty thoufand Per- 
 fians, and the produce of the fisheries on the lake 
 Mceris ; but the laft article was never equal to what 
 the Greeks have ehildimly imagined. This fum, 
 however, was very trifling in comparifon of what 
 Egypt muft have paid, had the Pharaohs poflefled 
 fuch enormous finances ; for Darius certainly pre- 
 ferved fome proportion between the tribute and the 
 revenues of the refpetive ftates. 
 
 Thofe who have written hitherto on Egypt, pre- 
 tend, that it was greatly enriched by the fpoils Se- 
 foflris had brought from his expedition, when he laid 
 the whole habitable world under contribution. But 
 
 this
 
 a 7 o PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 this error originated from the interpreters, who, in 
 fhowing ftrangers the temples and monuments of 
 Egypt, impofed on them with fables, which increafed 
 by repetition. Diodoru-s fays, that Sefoftris appeared 
 in the ftreets of his capital drawn by the deputies of 
 the fovereigns of the earth ; and Lucdn went ilill 
 farther, by making him harnefs the kings themfelves. 
 In this manner fictions are fpread abroad, and 
 people are always found to exaggerate what others 
 have dreamed. 
 
 The three firft Ptolemies really occafioned the 
 opulence of Egypt by concentring the greateft com- 
 merce then known on the ancient continent. As 
 this wealth was founded on articles of the mofl de- 
 ftru&ive luxury, fome able politicians at Rome in- 
 vented an oracle of the Sibyls, forbidding the Ro- 
 mans to carry their arms into Egypt ; and another 
 equally fpurious was faid to be delivered at Mem- 
 phis *. But Auguftus, who ridiculed prophecies, 
 did not hefitate to invade Egypt whenever he found 
 an opportunity ; and ever fmce that celebrated epocha, 
 the Romans continued to degenerate, as the politi- 
 cians had forefeen. 
 
 An Egyptian law, tranfmitted by Diodorus, has 
 led many of the learned to believe that gold and 
 
 * Haud equldcm 'unmerito Cumanx carmine vat is 
 
 Cautum, tie Ni'i Pelufia tangeret arva 
 
 Hefperius miles. 
 
 Thefe verfes of the Pharfalia are a paraplirafe of the four fol- 
 lowing words faid to be extracted from the books of the Sibyls : 
 Mi/es Romane, JEgyptum cave, 
 
 filver
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 7 i 
 
 fnver money had long been ufed in that country : 
 but nothing is more erroneous than this fuppofition ; 
 for thofe metals continued to be weighed, as we find 
 praclifed by thofe who had to difcharge their vows at 
 the temples for the health of their children. The 
 rft current coin of Egypt was ftruck by Aryandes, 
 Tinder the dominion of the Periians, who, as Sperling 
 jiiftly obferves, had never any great quantity of fpe- 
 cie in circulation *. It appears, indeed, that what 
 had been iifued was entirely drawn back by the annual 
 tributes ; for the Arabs, who fearch among the ruins 
 cf Egypt, and even fift much of the loofe fand, have 
 Sever discovered one fingle piece. None of the me- 
 dals found there are older than the reign of Alexander. 
 They either belonged to the Ptolemies, or to the 
 Egyptian towns which were allowed the privilege 
 qf having their own coin under the dominion of the 
 Greeks: thefe were Pelufium, Memphis, Abydus, 
 Thebes, Hermopclis, and the great city of Her- 
 cules f . 
 
 Among the different people, to whom the ancients 
 and moderns have attributed the invention of money, 
 the Egyptians were never mentioned, not even by 
 Pollux, who enters into many details on that fubjecl. 
 Count Caylus was certainly deceived, when he be- 
 lieved that fmall leaves of gold folded together were 
 
 * De Nummls non cufis. Sperling fays, that in his time the 
 falfe mekcls were made in Holftein. It is furprifing that jEgyp- 
 tian medals were not forged there likewife. 
 
 f Vaillant, Hift. Ptolem. ad Fidem Numifmaturn accommo- 
 >lata, 104. 
 
 ufed
 
 2 73 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 ufed there as current coin *. The kind of bracelets, 
 to which he alludes, are only found on the body, or 
 in the mouth of fome mummy ; and, therefore, they 
 mould be confidered as amulets either phylacteric, or 
 merely reprefenting the leaves of the perfea. The mer- 
 chants of Egypt were prohibited by law from mark* 
 ing their ingots with a falfe quality, or weight ; and 
 every perfon could employ fcales, as in the payments 
 by fhekels, when they were fufpecled to be too light, 
 It was with the Egyptians, as among the Hebrews, 
 whofe fhekels were not coined until the building of 
 the fecond temple ; and thofe nations remained too 
 clofely connected for the one to have employed 
 money while it was unknown to the other. 
 
 This at firft feems to indicate a flriking refemblance 
 to the Chinefe ; but by examining further we perceive 
 it to be precifeiy the contrary. The hiftorians of China 
 afiert, that money was ufed there in very ancient times ; 
 and to fupport this they have had recourfe to the fa* 
 brication of falfe medals. The opinion generally 
 received is, that Tcbing-tang, who is faid to have 
 mounted the throne one thoufand five hundred and 
 fifty-eight years before our era, caufed different me- 
 tals to be cafl in molds to facilitate commerce in the 
 different provinces of his dominions. But after- 
 wards it became neceffary to withdraw all the filver 
 and gold pieces out of the hands of the Chinefe, 
 becaufe they counterfeited them fo exactly, that no 
 perfon could pombly diftinguifh any difference. Yet 
 the prefent method adopted in China is far from hav- 
 * Colle&ion of Antiquities, vol, ii. 
 
 ing
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 275 
 
 ihg entirely corrected that abufe ; becaufe they have 
 fubftituted unjuft weights and fcales for falfe bullion. 
 All the merchants there are as cunning in the art of 
 weighing as the Jews and Egyptians ; and the fame 
 roguery mufl always take place in every country 
 deftitute of current coin. The metal is affayed only 
 by the touch-flone, which never indicates the quality 
 with the niceft preciflon, in the opinion of the mod 
 able judges, who certainly are the Jews. Such is the 
 difference between theEgyptians and Chinefe; the firft 
 difcovered a weaknefs of penetration in not inventing 
 money, and the latter a want of probity by rendering 
 the ufe of it impracticable. The go! d and filver fpecie, 
 introduced into the commerce of Egypt by the Greeks, 
 remained always unadulterated, and did not require 
 to be withdrawn, as in China. 
 
 The pyramids, the obelifks, the temples, and the 
 exaggerations of Homer, made fo many authors be- 
 lieve that the Pharaohs were immenfely rich. But 
 the materials of all thofe works had cod them no- 
 thing, and their revenues were fufficient to pay the 
 workmen, who anciently in warm countries did not 
 earn one tenth part of the wages now common in 
 Europe. The rate of labor is always regulated by 
 the expence required for the phyfical wants of the 
 workman and thofe of his family. We have already 
 obferved how little was neceffary for nourifhing a 
 child in Egypt, when that country had no exterior 
 commerce, which never fails to affect in fome de- 
 gree the price of provilions j and the grain exported 
 into Alia by the caravans was not of confequence 
 
 VOL. ii. - enough
 
 *?, PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATION'S 
 
 enough to be mentioned. The lands, pofielTed by 
 the Pharaohs in their own right, probably fufficed to 
 pay for the food, and perhaps the clothing, of the 
 laborers ; and we may conclude that littPe other ex- 
 pence was neceffary. 
 
 Statues of bronze, of gold, fifver, and ivory, do 
 not appear to have been in any meafure fo common 
 in the edifices of Egypt as in thofe of Greece and 
 Italy ; and it is not impofiible, that the Athenians 
 expended more money on the ftatue of Minerva than 
 Pharaoh Amafu in hewing and tranfporting one 
 of the obelifks of Sais. When the ancients men* 
 tion a prodigious circle of gold placed by theEgypti- 
 ans around the tomb of Ofymandias, and a ftatue of 
 the fame metal erected in the Delta, they confeffed. 
 that they fpoke of thofe things from hearfay ; but 
 the difference is very great between feeing a huge 
 mafs of gold and defcribing it in a romance. The 
 Egyptians were not even permitted to carry gold into 
 the temple of .Heliopolis ; and the Jews would have 
 afted wifely by obferving the fame policy; but they, 
 continued to heap up treafure in their temple at Jem- 
 falem to be conftantly pillaged, as is ever the cafe; 
 where riches are placed in churches. 
 
 By the ceremony of the inauguration of the Plia- 
 "- ' . 
 
 raohs we perceive, tjbiaf thoie princes were far from 
 
 difplaying at their court the infulting pomp of the 
 eaftern defpots. Then furely was the time for the 
 greateft oftentation, and yet the fcholiaft of Germa- 
 nicus fays,. taat tbe .kings of Egypt, on" that day, 
 wore a very modelr. tunic, a cottar,- a fc.ept.re," and a 
 
 diadem.
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS 
 
 diadem. The latter, refernbling wreaffeed.'fe'Tpents; 
 was probably made of gold; and the emperor Titus 
 is fuppofed to have worn fomething of the fame kind 
 at the confecration of the bull Apis. He did ~ not, 
 however; carry the yoke of that animal, like the 
 Pharaohs, becaufe it would have been the fignal of 
 revolt againft his father, and yet his condu& on that 
 bccafion feemed rather fufpicious *. As the kings of 
 Egypt conformed them'felves fcrupuloufly to the die- 
 tetic fyftem until Pfanunetichus, their tables occa- 
 fioned little expence* They knew well that the firfl 
 inhabitants of Egypt had not invented that regimen 
 to gratify any principle of aufterity, but entirely 
 from motives of health; The fame thing was vifible 
 in the manner of living adopted by the priefts, whofe 
 very beds were woven with leaves of the palm-tree, 
 in order to avoid a diforder which would have ren- 
 dered them impure ; and not, as Perlius fays, to lay 
 themfelves under continual penitence. It was at 
 kome that thofe beds of down, fo much efteemed in 
 ancient times, were purchafed from the Egyptians, 
 who had always the good fenfe not to employ them, 
 for their own ufe {-. 
 
 * When Titus crowned himfelf at the confecration of Apis, 
 he was only a private perfon. >uam fufpicionem, fays Suetonius, 
 aux'tt po/lquam Alexandrian petetu, in confecrando apud Memplnm 
 cove Apl, diadema geftavit ; de more quidem rituque prifca religionism 
 In Tits, vii. 
 
 f It is mentioned in an Epigram of Martial, beginning with 
 thefe words : Quid totus a Nilo, &c. This commerce proceeded 
 from the great quantity of geefe fed by the Egyptians, as appears 
 in the ad Section. 
 
 T 2 We
 
 ay PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 "We have already had occafion, in a feparate SeCf* 
 tion on the liberal arts, to fpeak of the ancient man^ 
 ner of dividing the people in Egypt. At prefent it 
 fliould be addedj that the eleftion of the twelve go- 
 vernors, who were to reign conjointly in that country 
 after the death of Pharaoh Sethon, is the flrongeft 
 proof that the Egyptians were originally divided into 
 twelve cartes, of which it is fcarcely to be doubted 
 thofe governors were chiefs, as we find among the 
 tribes of the Jews. But befides this divifion, another 
 more general was eftablifhed, according to which the 
 people were confidered as forming three great bodies. 
 The fame thing is obfervable with the Coptes, or 
 modern Egyptians, whofe Mebachers reprefent. the 
 Calafires and the Hermotybes, or, what is the fame 
 thing, the military families. According to Herodo- 
 tus, they once could have brought into the field four 
 hundred and ten thoufand men j but an abfurdity of 
 this nature does not require to be refuted. 
 
 At a time when money was very fcarce, the Egyp- 
 tians muft have been obliged to affign lands to the 
 foldiers ; and afterwards, we may fuppofe, many 
 difputes took place relative to the produce, which, 
 from the diverfity of foil, could not be alike on a 
 given fpace. To remedy this inconvenience, the 
 legiflature ordained that the military portions fliould 
 circulate continually, paffing every year from one 
 foldier to another, .fo that the perfon, who had at 
 firft a bad lo^, received afterwards a better. By this 
 operation, the property of lands was entirely taken 
 away from the military order, who were reduced to 
 
 the
 
 ON THE BGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 577 
 
 tne flate of mere ufufructuaries. Afterwards a law 
 was made to prevent any foldier from cultivating the 
 ground, following commerce, or exercifmg mecha- 
 nical arts. 
 
 It is very afloniming indeed, that this difpofition 
 of the Egyptian laws mould have been introduced in 
 certain books written with the intention of juftifying 
 the fyllem of excluding nobility from commerce; 
 for in fact the two cafes admit of no refemblance 
 whatever. The Calafires and Hermolybes were ob- 
 vioufly in the pay of the (late; and therefore the le- 
 giilature properly prohibited them, as foldiers, from 
 trading. No perfon was abfurd enough to propofe 
 that fuch of our modern nobility, as ferve in the 
 army, mould apply themfelves to commerce. The 
 idea was confined to thofe, who, not being employed 
 by the ftate, could in no manner be compared to the 
 Calafires and Hermotybes, who were conftantly on 
 fervice. When it is meant to decide political quef- 
 tions by the authority of ancient hiftory, great care 
 fhould be taken to prove that the cafes in queftion 
 are exactly alike : otherwife nothing can refult but a 
 confufion of ideas. 
 
 As the inhabitants of lower Egypt are, perhaps, 
 born with greater ftrength and vigor than thofe of 
 Thebais, it \vas fo ordered, that the greater part of 
 the military families were found in the Delta. The 
 fame arrangement has been fuppofed to have taken 
 place in India, where the military families of the 
 Ray as and Nairs inhabit likewife the inoft northern 
 parts of the country. 
 
 T 3 The
 
 *7* PHrLOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 The eftablifhments of the Egyptian militia com- 
 prehended chiefly the town of Sais 9 where Minerva, 
 who was chofen by the foldiers for their guardian-^ 
 had a famous temple. Thus we find the fcarabee 
 fculptured on all the military rings ; for that infect 
 \vas always confidered as one of the principal fym- 
 bols of the Egyptian Minerva. The fame goddefs in 
 fome monuments appeared like the Pallas of the Athe- 
 nians, who likewife placed their warriors under the 
 protection of that divinity, as the artifans were under 
 that of Vulcan. 
 
 With regard to the terms Calafires and Hermotybes^ 
 by which the two corps of Egyptian militia were de- 
 noted *, they have hitherto never been fatisfa&orily 
 interpreted. In my opinion, they were derived folely 
 from the form of the clothing, and not from the 
 armor, the mod remarkable part of which was a 
 huge buckler, like that ufed by the Gauls. In co- 
 vering the whole body, it impeded every movement ; 
 and as the Egyptians formed themfelves intp platoons 
 to a<3: feparately, the enemy prefled them together fp 
 clofely, that they became incapable of refinance. 
 Csefar defcribes a defenfive armor of fom German 
 people, which occafioned their defeat nearly in the 
 fame manner. Large bucklers were generally re- 
 jected by the Romans, Greeks, Macedonians, and even 
 
 * The word Calq/iris fignifies the garment generally worn in 
 Egypt ; and we find the term Headtybion for another particular 
 kind of tunic. The Latin tranflator fancied that this word was 
 originally Greek ; but it has only been corrupted by a Greek ter* 
 jnination, as well as Hemotybies,
 
 ON THE 'EGYPTIANS A$V CHINESE. ? 9 
 
 ''"by* tfie Chinefe, who fometimes, however", 'conceal 
 lliemfelves under their fhlelds, by forming a kind "of 
 a tortbife. 
 
 The bad principles, adopted by the Egyptians in, 
 tactics, proceeded in a great meafure from their 
 ufing chariots in \var. If we except elephants, no- 
 thing is capable of producing more diforder in at- 
 tacks ; and they have been tried and abandoned by 
 aim oft every nation of the ancient continent. Befides 
 the confufion occasioned by thefe unwieldy machines, 
 they prevent the advantage which might be derived 
 from the horfes in a fandy country, fuch as the eaftern 
 and weftern parts of the Delta, where the Egyptians 
 encountered fo many defeats. 
 
 It is generally believed that the Egyptians wore no 
 helmet, and this error has originated from a (lory 
 related by Herodotus. He pretends to have obferved 
 near Pelufium, that the heads of the Perfians fcat- 
 tered on an ancient field of battle were much fofter 
 than thofe of the Egyptians, who fhaved their hair, 
 and never, according to him, wore any head-drefs. 
 But they certainly had helmets of brafs, and cuiraffes 
 made of flax, like that of Pharaoh Amafis, which 
 created admiration in all thofe who faw them at 
 Samos, and at Lindas in the ifland of Rhodes, where 
 the moft beautiful was confecrated to Minerva. This 
 armor, defcribed by Herodotus, was remarkable 
 for its texture, where each thread was compofed of 
 three hundred and fixty-five others, in allufion to the 
 indefinite, year ; for the Egyptians could never refrain 
 from their allegories, even where they were altoge- 
 
 T 4 ther
 
 ? PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 ther improper. Although Iphicrates introduced the 
 Egyptian cuiraffes among the Athenian militia, yet 
 Paufanias had reafon in rejecting them as defective, 
 becaufe, however effectual againft fwords, or ftones 
 thrown from flings, they could not refifl a pointed 
 weapon. Befides arms, colors, and inftruments of 
 mufic, the formidable Calafires of Egypt, in all their 
 expeditions, were provided with a number of birds 
 of prey, and principally vultures, for the purpofe of 
 divination. Orus Apollo fpeaks of this cuflom in 
 feveral parts of his Hieroglyphics ; and it is exactly 
 obferved at this day by the Nairs and Rayas of India, 
 who never give battle when the vultures appear fullen 
 and quiet. The generals mod probably have a fecret 
 of giving them voracity, when it anfwers their pur- 
 pofe, by means of opium ; and the Marrattoes ren- 
 der their horfes fo impetuous by the ufe of that drug, 
 that they are almoft irreilftible. The Egyptians are 
 fai'd to have had alfo a Very numerous cavalry inde- 
 pendent of their armed chariots, the figure of which is 
 feen fculptured on fome of the monuments of Thebais. 
 But by reflecting on the regular overflowing of the 
 Nile, it is eafy to conceive that the number of horfes 
 could never have been very great among the Egyptians, 
 becaufe they could only be employed when theriverwas 
 within its bed. This inconvenience alone, without 
 mentioning the canals and ditches encountered at 
 every ftep, muft have difgufted them with cavalry ; 
 and the force of their armies really confided in in- 
 fantry, as we are told by Xenophon. 
 
 What
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. <i 
 
 What authors have written concerning Sefoftris 
 contains fo many contradictions, that we mufl con- 
 clude they fpoke at random. Some pretend that his 
 whole life was fpent in endeavouring to enervate the 
 military fpirit of the Egyptians, by encouraging ef- 
 feminacy, becaufe he hoped by that means to prevent 
 thofe revolts fo frequent and fatal among the militia 
 of the Eaft. Other hiftorians, fuch as Ariftotle, 
 laffert that, on the contrary, he improved the art of 
 war, and gave additional force to difcipline. Soldiers 
 in that country were accuftomed to be governed by 
 the point of honor, rather than through fear of pu- 
 nimment : they became infamous from difobedience 
 to their chiefs ; and nothing but extraordinary proofs 
 of bravery could retrieve their character. The 
 Egyptian army, however, had little to boaft of its 
 expedition to Jerufalem ; for it was no difficult mat- 
 ter to feduce a pitiful race of men, who were van- 
 quimed by the greater! part of thofe who chofe to at- 
 tack them. 
 
 The Calafires and Hermotybes have been accufed of 
 cowardice in actions, where in reality they were not 
 prefent. According to our opinion, all the national 
 militia retired into Ethiopia in the reign of Pfamme- 
 tichus, and never fought more under the Pharaohs * 
 Thus they could not have affifted at the fiege of 
 A%ot\ which, as Herodotus fays, lafled twenty-nine 
 years, and never fmce the world exifted, continues 
 
 * Some authors make the number of foldiers who retired to 
 Ethiopia amount to two hundred tboufand. But fuppofmg only 
 the half of that number, it follows that all the national militia 
 ^migrated. 
 
 he,
 
 4 ? s PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 he, did any place hold out fo -long ; for the foreign 
 troops in the pay of the kings of Egypt refufed to 
 aflault the town. It is difficult to fay what the Cala- 
 Jires and Hermotybes would have done on that occa- 
 fion ; but they lived then peaceably in Ethiopia, and 
 had no part in either the battle with Cambyfes, or 
 any future operations. That prince, at the fiege of 
 pelufium, is faid to have formed a line of facred 
 animals before his troops ; and by that means the 
 -Egyptians were prevented from throwing a fmgle 
 dart. But that ftratagem is a mere fable. In the 
 jfirfl place, Pelufium did not require to be befieged 
 by Cambyfes, for it furrendered at his approach ; and 
 next, it mould be obferved that the mercenary troops 
 of Caria, Ionia, and Libya, who were then oppofed to 
 the Perfians, would have troubled themfelves very 
 little about animals, not at all connected with their 
 own religion. Thus we find the whole (lory to be 
 the invention of fome writer ignorant of hiitory, 
 who believed that the ancient Calafires and Hermo* 
 tykes were (till in Egypt, when that country was fub- 
 dued by the fon of Cyrus. 
 
 In China, the left fide has always been confidered 
 as the pod of honor ; but the right had the preference 
 in Egypt. Pharaoh Pfammetichus, who violated at 
 once all laws and ufages, formed the right wing of 
 his army with the foreign troops, and affigned the 
 left for the Calafires and Hermotybes. Thofe unfor- 
 tunate people, confidering themfelves difhonored by 
 the unjuft preference given to famimed Greeks and 
 faithlefs mercenaries, abandoned Egypt ; although 
 the inhabitants of that country were never accuf, 
 
 tomed
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. >Sj 
 
 tomed to emigrate,, as we learn from Clemens of 
 Alexandria *, 
 
 Herodotus, fpeaking of this retreat of the Egyp- 
 tian foldiers, does not agree exadly with Diodorus, 
 who attributes their difcontent entirely to the affront 
 they had received. The former pretends that they 
 had been left during three years in the garrifon of 
 Thebais by Pfammetichus^ who would not allow them 
 to leave thofe quarters - 9 but his account feems im- 
 probable, and he has befides been notorioufly de-* 
 peived, when he places the eftabliihment they formed 
 fo far in the interior part of Ethiopia. It feems ai- 
 med certain that they fettled on the banks of the 
 AjiaboraS) and opened a paflage for the water of that 
 jriver into the Red Sea. This artificial drain is not faid 
 to have affected the water of the Nile, becaufe the di- 
 minution was, perhaps, too inconiiderable to be per* 
 ceived. 
 
 The project of turning the Nile into the Red Sea, 
 and of rendering Egypt uninhabitable, does not feem 
 to have been unknown to the ancients. This is the 
 opinion of Mr. Maas, that truly learned and eftimable 
 author, who has produced the befl work now extant on 
 the geography of Palefline. Claudian, who was 
 born in Egypt, gives us fome notion of the poffibi- 
 lity of changing the courfe of the Nile ; but nothing 
 of the kind was attempted until the tenth century, 
 and what is related on that occafion appears to me 
 as fabulous. Elmacin and Father Lallier affert that, 
 under the kalifship of Munftaiifirjht water was com- 
 pletely turned away from Egypt by dikes and fluices, 
 
 * Stromat. p. 354. 
 
 and
 
 *54. PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 and the inhabitants began to fear a famine. As the 
 patriarchs of Alexandria are the real metropolitans of 
 Ethiopia, where they are reprefented by an Abitna^ 
 Michael the third was prevailed upon to carry pre- 
 fents to the Ethiopians, and he fucceeded in having 
 the works destroyed. 
 
 It is not eafy to conceive how the Ethiopians could 
 have been at that time fufficiently verfed in the arts to 
 execute fuch undertakings. Towards the year one 
 thoufand five hundred and twenty-five, Etana Dengbel> 
 who was emperor of Ethiopia, fent an ambafFador to 
 Lifbon, requeuing the king of Portugal to aflift him 
 \vith a number of European pioneers and architects, for 
 the purpofe of preventing any water from defcending 
 into Egypt. This monarch pretended that -one of his 
 predecefibrs, called Lalibala by Ludolph, had endea- 
 voured to execute the fame project by opening a canal 
 oppofite Suaksm. That place is about an hundred 
 miles diflant from the Nile, according to the Portu- 
 guefe, who were incapable of accompliming the in- 
 tended object; and we know that they did not even make 
 a beginning. In the year one thoufand feven hundred 
 and fix, Teklimanout) calling himfelf king of Abyffinia, 
 threatened the pacha of Cairo with deftroying Egypt 
 by drying up the Nile *, But it was eafier for an 
 Abyfiinian to fpeak in this manner to a Turk, than 
 to execute any project of that nature. 
 
 It is not at Suakem, as the Portuguese believed, 
 but more to the fouth, in the eighteenth degree, that 
 the furface of the country begins to form a continual 
 
 * Continuation of Eobo's Voyage. 
 
 defcem:
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 2 S; 
 
 defcent to the very fliore of the Red Sea. At that 
 place the water of the dftaboras, or Tacaze, might 
 be prevented from falling into the Nile, and even 
 that river itfelf directed towards the eaft, inftead of 
 flowing northwards, as at prefent. This, however, 
 would require prodigious labor, and the profit 
 arifing from it would never compenfate for the ex- 
 pence. Befides, the Ethiopians would gran nothing 
 by ruining Egypt ; and if their objecl: was only to 
 have a communication with the Arabian gulph, it 
 might be effected by repairing the canal formerly 
 opened by the Egyptian deferters. That cut mufl 
 now be entirely dry, becaufe it is not marked 
 down by Niebuhr, and the pofition on d'Anville's 
 map is altogether ideal. 
 
 Ethiopia and Egypt feldom formed one dominion ; 
 but if thefe two countries were fubject to one prince, 
 he might fucceed by means of dikes and flukes 
 to raife the Nile annually to the exact height necef- 
 fary for inundating the whole country from Syene to 
 the Mediterranean. By collecting the rain-water 
 fwallowed up in the fands of Abyffinia, refervoirs 
 might be formed for fupplying Egypt at will. Some- 
 thing of the kind is, indeed, faid to have been at- 
 tempted by the ancients ; becaufe far in the interior of 
 Africa fome rivers are found communicating with 
 each other by canals formed feparately by human 
 art; but no perfon can fuppofe that any fuch project 
 was ever formed by the Egyptians, who, perhaps, 
 never conceived it to be practicable. The priefts 
 knew nearly every thing to be acquired concerning 
 
 the
 
 i85 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATION^'' 
 
 the caufes of the overflowing of the Nile, which 
 explained in a very fatisfactory manner to Eudoxus '*i 
 But, with regard to the fource of that river, they 
 either placed it too far towards the fouth, or fuppofed 
 that, properly fpeaking, no fuch fpot exifted. This 
 opinion, indeed, feems mod probable ; for in all ap- 
 pearance a number of fmall brooks are formed in 
 different parts fome days after the rain begins to fall 
 in the torrid zone. The fource of the river may, 
 therefore, be found fometimes in one valley, and 
 fometimes in another, accordingly as the wind drives 
 the clouds, or as they are attracted to fome parti ^ 
 cular mountain. Thus the Nile probably originates 
 at certain periods in very diftant provinces ; but it 
 cannot poffibly proceed from the heights of the 
 auftral hemifphere, as the priefts feem to have fup^ 
 pofed. 
 
 What has been faid may fuffice to give a tolerable 
 idea of the internal government of ancient Egypt ; 
 but long difcuffiom would be neceflary to indicate 
 the policy obferved towards other nations. This 
 conduct feems to have been little underftood by the 
 Egyptians in general, and we may cite as an ex- 
 ample the unpardonable fault otAmafts^ who neglected 
 to form a fecret treaty with the Arabs, when the 
 power of Cyrus began to make Afia tremble. The 
 ancients themfelves have obferved, that, if the 
 Egyptians had adopted this precaution, the army of 
 Cambyfes would never have penetrated even as far as 
 the ifthmus of Suez. Pfammetichus was guilty of a 
 
 * Plutarch In Placius Philofoph. lib. iv. 
 
 mil
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. **? 
 
 Itill more enormous imprudence in committing the 
 defence of Egypt to foreign troops, and eftablifhing 
 colonies there compofed of the dregs of different 
 nations. The coaft of the Mediterranean might 
 have remained free to the commerce of Greece j but 
 the Greeks themfelves mould never have been ad* 
 mitted as fettlers in the cantons of the Delta, The 
 Egyptians had already in their country too many 
 foreign colonifls, who were allowed to live in bo* 
 dies according to their particular laws ; and this is 
 contrary to all rules of policy. One of thefe fo- 
 cieties, compofed folely of Phenieians, poflefled a 
 confiderable part of Memphis ; a band of Arabs were 
 fedentary at Coptus ; and the inroads of the Bedouins 
 could not always be prevented, as we find by the con- 
 tract eftabiilhed between them and the Egyptians, as 
 well as by the great ufelefs wall conftructed by Se- 
 foitris. The Arabs of Coptus carried on a kind of 
 traffic, and fent fome wares as far as the town called 
 Arabia Felix, which certainly was not a country, as 
 the author of the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea has 
 afiejted in a very pofitive manner. Thus, when the 
 Ptolemies opened a direct intercourfe with India, 
 Arabia Felix difappeared, and the place, where it 
 formerly flood, was levelled entirely by the Romans. 
 The Ethiopians had an eftablifhmem in higher Egypt; 
 and the weftern Africans, who, in my opinion, com- 
 pofed the detefted tribe ^ lived in hordes towards the 
 Racotis, and on the fpot where Alexandria was af- 
 terwards founded. The Jews were fixed in the 
 neighbourhood of the little city of Hercules, which 
 
 we
 
 zsa PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 we take to be Avaris ; but fome of the learned look 
 for this town in Arabia Petrea, towards a place where 
 many Egyptian monuments have been difcovered *. 
 We do not include the Babylonian fettlement below 
 Memphis, becaufe it was not formed apparently until 
 after the invafion of Cambyfes ; and thofe, who were 
 taken for Babylonians, feem rather to have been Per- 
 fians, who had in that place the only Pyrea ever feen 
 in Egypt. The ancients have befides mentioned a 
 troop of fugitive Trojans, whom the Egyptians re- 
 ceived likewife, and placed them near the great quar- 
 ries to the eaftward of the Nile ; but the ftory of 
 thefe pretended Trojans feems fabulous, and fome 
 other race of men were meant, whofe hiflory is too 
 obfcure to admit of elucidation. 
 
 Befides thefe ftrangers already mentioned, fome 
 Carians and lonians were found in Egypt, who at 
 firfl poffefled fome lands near the Pelufian branch of 
 the Nile, abandoned moil probably by the Calafires 
 and Hcrmotybes. They were afterwards introduced 
 to garrifon the capital, where they remained con- 
 ftantly, until difperfed by Cambyfes. The Pharaohs 
 
 * They pretend that d-varis is the fame town as Ptol? 
 Stephanus, and the Catalogue of Bifhoprics, place it in ,rabia, 
 with the name of Avara^ which is called 4~jatba y in tl. 
 the Empire, printed at Bafil in 1552, where the text is n-u;. 
 than in any other. That opinion, however, is founded men ' 
 the refemblance of the name ; and a thoufand examples 
 that Jofephus committed enormous faults relative to the gc 
 pay of Egypt. In my idea he has confounded the Bubaftic canal 
 with the Tanitic mouth of the Nile ; and this confuiion has pre- 
 vented stvaris from being found in Sethron. 
 
 had
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 189 
 
 had employed that body of miliria in many expedi- 
 tions ; and it may be fuppofeJ they alfo took into 
 pay the Phenicians who inhabited Memphis, when 
 they undertook to form a navy. Nothing of the 
 kind, however, was attempted previous to the reign 
 of Pfammetichus, who, according to fome chrono- 
 logifts, did not afcend the throne until the year fix 
 hundred and feventy- three before our prefent era. 
 
 VOL. II.
 
 3 9 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 SECT. X. 
 
 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHINESE. 
 
 AS the Scythians were at all times reftlefs and 
 enemies to peace, the firft chiefs, chofen by 
 the old men to conduct the hordes, led them eafily 
 from one military expedition to another. Conftantly 
 at war, they had continual occafion for caciques or 
 captains, who afterwards became independent, and 
 tranfmitted the fovereignty to their children, or ap- 
 pointed fucceflbrs, without confulting the people. 
 This is the reafon why the Chinefe were never feen 
 proceeding in a body to elect an emperor, even when 
 the imperial family in the male line became extinct ; 
 and to the fame caufe mould be attributed the want 
 of power in the legiflature of China to regulate the 
 order of fucceffion in the reigning dynafty. Yet a 
 more eflential flep could not have been taken to flop 
 the firil progrefs of that defpotifm, which continued 
 to augment until the reign of Schi-chuan-di. 
 
 That prince difiipated the very (hadow of the an- 
 cient feudal government, by uniting all the provinces 
 under his immediate 'authority. Previous to this 
 event, China was divided into a great number of 
 petty dates, fome of which had very wife regulations j 
 and many of their laws were afterwards new-modelled, 
 and incorporated in the general conftitution of the 
 empire. Among the independent fovereigns, fome 
 were found truly refpectable, who loved and practifed 
 
 virtue :
 
 Ott THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 29! 
 
 virtue : they thought no people more worthy of their 
 protection than men of learning, who, finding it there 
 Impoflible to diftinguiih themfelves in real fcience, 
 endeavoured to (bine in works of morality, which de- 
 pended lels on acquired knowledge, Confucius in 
 this manner obtained great reputation in the little 
 kingdom of Lon, where he became prime minifter. 
 If born again at the fefent day, he would not perhaps 
 be able to attain the rank of a mandarin of the ninth 
 clafs ; for the elevation of a man becomes more the 
 effect of chance in proportion as defpotifm increafes* 
 If China had not been divided into Jo many different 
 ftates, it would never have become what it now is* 
 The emperors, who fucceeded Scbi-cbuan di, entrusted 
 the firft dignities and the government of the provinces 
 almoft entirely to eunuchs, incapable of conceiving 
 or executing any great project. They muft probably 
 have dill continued in thofe employments, had not 
 the Tartars expelled them, after having taken advan- 
 tage of their treafon to invade the empire : every thing 
 was in fuch di (order, that formidable bands of robbers 
 pillaged the provinces ; and Pe-kin could not refill 
 their attacks, although defended by a garrison of 
 fixty thoufand men Yet the Moguls found the dif- 
 trefs of that country H:il] greater in ihe thirteenth cen- 
 tury, when Kwblai Kcin e^oloveH the greateft zeal 
 to reftore tranquillity and good order. He not only 
 repaired the towns which the Chlnefe had fo ill de- 
 fended agalnft the generals of Gengis Kan, but he 
 like wife buih many others, befides Pe-kin, where he 
 fixed the feat of empire, from political motives fuffi- 
 
 u 2 clearly.
 
 *9* PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 ciently juftified by events. That prince, indeed, had 
 a Chinefe preceptor from his earlieft years ; but, hav- 
 ing attained manhood, he faw clearly that, without 
 the aid of foreign artifts and fcientific men, it was im- 
 poffible to execute any ufeful project ; and the Man- 
 dhuis made exactly the fame obfervations. 
 
 China is more governed by police than by laws ; 
 and, unlefs an ubfolute authority were vefled in the 
 deputies of the fovereign, fo vaft a country could 
 never be held under the fubjection of one perfon. 
 Yet, by means of abfolute authority, the Tartars, 
 who could fcarcely read or write when they conquered 
 China, have governed better there than the Chinefe 
 themfelves, who had only their own country to 
 regulate, while the Mandhuis have, befides, to main- 
 tain their fway in the two Tartaries. 
 
 The two chief fprings of this government are the 
 v/hip and the cudgel ; and neither Chinefe nor Tartar 
 can be fecure rgainft this difcipline. The emperor, 
 fays Father du Halde, fomethnes orders a few baftina- 
 does to perfons of great rank and confequence, and after- 
 wards treats them as if nothing had happened*. This 
 is the conduct of all the defpots of Afia without ex- 
 ception : their fubjects may be ill ufed in a thoufand 
 different ways ; but fuch Haves can never be difho- 
 nored, becaufe that is contrary to the nature of things. 
 
 Whenever a general makes his appearance, all the 
 foldiers fall on their knees, either in the camp or on 
 the parade ; and men of that difpofition can never be 
 
 * Defcn'ption of China, vol. n. 
 
 robbed
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 25,3 
 
 robbed of their honor. Yet the Chinefe imagine, 
 that their form of government was modelled on pa- 
 ternal authority; but they could never have har- 
 boured this idea, if their morallfts had been able to 
 determine how far paternal authority fhould extend. 
 Thofe, who were accmtomed to defpotifm in each 
 family, could not be furprifed to find it in the ftate ; 
 and the princes took advantage of this difpofition to 
 introduce a fervile fubmimou, very different from 
 political fubordination. Thus the fecret of govern- 
 ment confifls chiefly in promoting a falfe morality, 
 and refraining from whatever might tend to limit the 
 power of fathers over their children. In Perfa and 
 Turkey, no parent can fell his fen, becaufe fuch bar- 
 gains are declared illegal ; and if recourfe were had 
 there to the Juftinian code, which is faithfully tranf- 
 lated into Arabic, to fan&ion this abufe, the cadis 
 would then judge according to the canonical law ; for 
 they only employ the Roman procedure in cafes where 
 the texts and gloffaries of the Koran are indecifive. 
 In China, on the contrary, the validity of fuch con- 
 tracts has never been difputed, becaufe they are known 
 to be legal ; and the magiftrates would exert the exe- 
 cutive power to feize a child, who had taken refuge 
 with his uncle, after being fold by his father. 
 
 Thofe people mud be very ill informed, who main- 
 tain in Europe, that the political conftitution of China 
 is not defpotic. They tell us in vain of judiciary tri- 
 bunals being eftablimed there ; for that is likewife the 
 cafe in all the abfolute dates of Afia. It can never 
 be fuppofed that one man could decide all the contefts 
 
 u 3 arifmg
 
 * 9 f PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 arifmg in a country as extenfive as the whole of 
 Europe. 
 
 The governors of the fmalleit places have the right 
 of pent-fe ; that is to fay, they can beat all the citizens 
 with impunity. All the tfong-tou, or viceroys, pof- 
 fefs the power of life and death, without requiring to 
 have decrees figned by the emperor, or infpe&ed by 
 any fuperior tribunal ; and they frequently order im- 
 mediate execution, without the fmalleft formality of 
 juftice. Their inftrucHons point out a number of 
 fituations when immediate death may be inflicled on 
 criminals *; and it is precifely from having fpecified 
 certain cafes that none are excepted. The tfong-tou 
 can eafily convict the dead of confpiracy, revolt, and 
 treafon, which admits of fo much variety in China. 
 The judges do not conduct their criminal proceedings 
 according to the manner adopted in the moft polimed 
 countries of Europe ; otherwife, the acls of procedure 
 would be fent to Pe-kin. But they fend nothing 
 more than the fentence, contained in three or four 
 lines, like that of the miffionaries who were ftrangled 
 in the province of Nan-kin. 
 
 Under the Chinefe government the emperors 
 fcarcely ever quitted their palace : when they did go 
 out, a kind of courrouc was made, as in Perfia, and 
 any perfonwho looked at them when paffing incur, ed 
 death. All the defpots of the Fail fhut themfelves up 
 in the fame manner ; and it would be impoiiible to 
 defcrioe the evils produced by this fatal cuflom in fo 
 
 * " The emperor empowers the tf-r.g-tcu, and even the vice 
 to inflict infant death on cnuu.ials." Jj-icript. of China. 
 
 many
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 29 5 
 
 many parts of Ada. The Chinefe were the only 
 people who endeavoured to find a remedy by fending 
 vifitors into the provinces to examine the conduct of 
 the viceroys and tfong-tou. But, when thofe govern- 
 ors were eunuchs, it was neceflary to wink at their 
 exactions, becaufe the emperor inherited their for- 
 tunes. This infamous cuiTom difgufled the Tartars ; 
 and, difdaining to be the heirs of mtriiated wretches, 
 at the expence of the people, they appointed men to 
 govern the provinces. 
 
 The emperors of the preceding dynafty had confif- 
 cated many landed poffeffions ; and when united to 
 their domain, they were left uncultivated. Thofe 
 eftates became fo very extenfive, that the Tartars did 
 not deprive the Chinefe of a fingle foot of land at the 
 conqueft ; for they found a fufficiency to make a de- 
 cent eftablifliment for each of their foldiers in the dif- 
 ferent appendages. Their troops, ranged under eight 
 banners, amounted altogether to about fevenry-five 
 or eighty thoufand men, exclufive of women, children, 
 and JVhadhuis, who came from Tartary, when the 
 conqueil was effected, and received lands like the 
 
 reft. 
 
 The name of tribunal is very improperly given, in 
 foine relations, to certain offices at Pe kin, efta- 
 blifhedfor the fuperinr ending of ihe particular affairs 
 of the prince. The pretended tribunal of buildings is 
 merely for the inspection of the furniture of the 
 palace, the manufactures poffefled immediately by the 
 emperor, and whatever works he nay be defirous of 
 having conitruded. Such inftitutions are found in 
 
 u 4 all
 
 a 9 6 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 all the abfolute ftates of Afia, and they aie called def- 
 ters, or chambers, at Conftantinople and Ifpahan. 
 
 The tribunal of mathematics never had that name, 
 except in the relations of the Jefuits. It was a col- 
 lege under the Chinefe government, appointed not 
 only to compofe almanacs, but to determine, accord- 
 ing to certain principles of judicial aflrology, the days 
 when the fovercign could devote himfelf to different 
 affairs. The precife time was alib fuperfiitioufly 
 fixed for the ceremony of his ploughing, according 
 to the inftitution of Ven-ti. Thus we fee nearly the fame 
 etiquette obferved at the court of China as in Perfia, 
 where the penfioncd aftrologers regulated the actions 
 of the emperor, with.thi-, difference, that the time for 
 him. to eat with the laborers, clothed like a peafant, 
 was determined by the magi, and not by the aftrologers. 
 
 The ancient Chinefe gave the name of the iky, the 
 earth, and the four feafons, to the fix great colleges 
 of the court. To that called autumn all criminal 
 affairs are now addreffed ; and, therefore, it fliould 
 be confidered as a real tribunal, very different from 
 the offices of fuperintendency. 
 
 Nothing in the whole jurifprudence of the Chinefe 
 is more {hocking, than thecuftom borrowed from u.e 
 Scythians, of punifhing the relations of a criminal co 
 the ninth degree, although their innocence was n 
 rious. The hulband, in the firit place, is refponiitue 
 for the actions of his wife and children. Ai: die a> aih 
 of the father, the eldeft fon muft anfwer for the con- 
 duel of his younger brothers : and they are all alike 
 dragged to punifliment, and involved in the fame dif- 
 
 grace.
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. * 9 ? 
 
 grace, while their fitters are reduced to flavery with- 
 out mercy. 
 
 On my firft arrival at Pe-kin, fays Father Am'ot, 
 that rigor appeared to me extreme ; but when I 
 obferved afterwards, continues he, that the Chinefe 
 cannot be induced to act unlefs from fear or interefb 
 I began to confider this feverity as reafonable and ne- 
 ceflary*. But the difference is very great between 
 fpeaking according to the principles of a dtfpotic go- 
 vernment, and tho r e of equity and natural right, con- 
 cerning which Father Amiot was very indifferent ; 
 becaufe he belonged to a fociety where obedience had 
 too much degenerated into a blind fubmiflion. 
 
 Innocence mould in no cafe be punimed from any 
 motive whatever ; and to allege neceffity, inftead of 
 juftice, is renewing an ancient maxim of tyranny, 
 which has made mankind fhudder in all the ftates of 
 Europe. What is neceffary for the defpot may not be 
 fo for the people. That fervile fear, which directs 
 the actions of the Chinefe, is a confequence of their 
 inftitutions ; and who indeed could refrain from 
 trembling in a country where innocence itfelf is not 
 in fafety ? 
 
 The emperor Ven-ti propofed to abrogate the law 
 which punifhes a whole family for the particular fault 
 of one of its members. On this he was told, If you 
 wifh to reign over men, annul this inftitution ; but it 
 is neceflary to keep your fubjects in flavery: and this 
 fatal maxim, confequsntly, has been preferved unim- 
 paired till the prefent moment. 
 
 * CJueefe Ark of War, 
 
 Ancient
 
 19 g PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 Ancient philofophers pretended, that, according to 
 rigid right, the defendants of a criminal, juflly pu- 
 nifhed, ihould not be involved in his difgrace. Plato ad- 
 mits only one cafe as an exception to the general rule. 
 When the great grandfather, the grandfather, and 
 the father of a man, fays he, have fuffered death, after 
 being fucceffively convicted of a great crime ; that 
 perfon, he adds, fhould be confidered as infamous, 
 and incapable of exercifing any employ in the repub- 
 lic ; becaufe the race was evidently perverfe, when it 
 could not be corrected by three fucceflive punimments 
 and the lapfe of four generations. We might be led 
 to fpeak more ferioufly of this cafe imagined by Plato, 
 were it not fo extraordinary, that, perhaps, no ex- 
 ample of the kind has ever occurred fmce the origin of 
 political focieties. 
 
 If it was an injuftice, according to the opinion of 
 philofophers, to mark thofe with infamy who were 
 not culpable, we may conceive the barbarity or atro- 
 city of putting them to death. When a whole Chinefe 
 family became extinct under the hands of the execu- 
 tioner, the emperor confiscated their polfeflions ; and 
 the perfons of the females related to the real or fup- 
 ,i criminals were fold for his particular profit. 
 IN early the fame cuftom was obferved among the Scy- 
 thians mentioned by Herodotus ; but all my refearches 
 luve not been able to afcertain, whether or not it 
 had like wile been adopted by the independent fove- 
 reigns oi China, who fucceeded the petty kans. The 
 continual wars of the latter prevented them from im- 
 proving the laws, and regulating the ftate, like the 
 i inde-
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 399 
 
 independent fovereigns ; and Confucius, if all we have 
 heaid concerning him be true, would not, in all pro- 
 bability, have allowed a whole family of the king- 
 dom of Lon to be condemned for the fault of an 
 Individual. 
 
 No nation of Afia ever exercifed a torture compar- 
 able to that of the Chinefe, who tear the Ikin and 
 fiefli in flripes from the body of the accufed, until he 
 confefles a crime of which, perhaps, he is innocent. 
 As different kinds of mutilations were formerly prac- 
 tifed in China, fome judges reprefented to the emperor 
 Ven-ti, that thofe who had their legs amputated below 
 the inflexion of the knee frequently perifhed in the 
 operation, and even the furvivors luffered more than 
 .death. That prince, who merited praife, had he not 
 been filly enough to fwallow the drink of immortality, 
 abolifhed all kinds of disfigurements by an edicl:, 
 which remained in force, like the greater part iffued 
 there, during the life of the framer. Afierwards, it 
 became cullomary to imprint black characters on the 
 face, as well as to cut off the nofe j and to this the 
 Chinefe owe their expert nefs in making artificial 
 nofes, and applying them fo as to create a perfect de- 
 ception. Such ftigmas are eafily effaced entirely, 
 although inflicted with a burning iron, or by pricking 
 the cpiderm. It is not from being in pain about their 
 honor, that the thieves are anxious to make thefe 
 marks difappear ; but becaufe they render the prac- 
 tice of their villany more difficult. In other places, 
 fays Father Trigault, garrifons are placed in towns to 
 (defend them againft foreign enemies j in China, they 
 
 are
 
 300 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 are intended to protect the towns from robbers. All 
 travellers, however, confefs that the danger is dill 
 greater by day than during the night. The Tartars 
 endeavour as much as poffible to obferve a fevere dif- 
 cipline ; and a fingle Mandhui conducls a thtiufand 
 Chinefe with a whip, in the fame manner that a janif- 
 fary governs as many Greeks with a cudgel. 
 
 Mr. Porter, who has beflowed fo much praife on 
 the police of the Turks *, mould have perceived that 
 the fame apparent order is obvious in all the cities of 
 defpotic ftates ; and it di mini flies in proportion to the 
 diftance from the town?. Little fecurity can be found 
 in the country, unlefs immediately under the protec- 
 tion of fome of the members of the police; who, in 
 arbitrary dates, are always foldiersj becaufe the prince 
 has no other fupport. 
 
 Mr. Salmon a (lures us, that, according to the do- 
 cuments employed by him in compofing his Hiftory, 
 not lefs than fifteen thoufand perfons are almoft con- 
 ftantly confined in the prifons of Canton f. But the 
 criminals mould be diltinguimed in this calculation 
 from thofe who are fliut up only for a few days. 
 
 When the emperor Schi-chuan-di united all the pro- 
 vinces under his immediate control, he forbade the 
 ufe of arms among the Chinefe, and would not even 
 allow them to poffefs an arrow or a dart. This maxim 
 encouraged the attempts of robbers, who were fure 
 of finding the inhabitants of the country altogether 
 defencelefs. It occafioned alfo many other regulations 
 
 * Obfervations on the Religion and Laws of the Turks. 
 f Prefent State of China, vol. i. 
 
 relative
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 301 
 
 relative to cafes where blood was fhed ; becaufe, from 
 fuch appearances, the legiflator inferred the ufe of 
 fome offenfive weapon. When the Chinefe fight among 
 themfelves, each avoids carefully either tearing the 
 clothes ,or piercing the fkin of his antagonifl. The 
 murderer is punifhed with death ; but he has always 
 to languifti a confiderable time in prifon : for, except 
 thofe cafes where the ifong-tcu and viceroys find it 
 convenient to act irregularly, all fentences of death 
 mud be figned by the emperor. Some confider this 
 formality as peculiar to China ; but it is pradifed in 
 all the defpotic dates of Afia, and principally in Perfia, 
 as we learn from Chardin *. This cuftom is con- 
 nected with the conftitution of an abfolute govern- 
 ment, where the laws have no power without the will 
 of the prince, who, befides, confiders his fubjecis as 
 a property ; and it is contrary to the efience of fervi- 
 tude, that a mafter mould be deprived of a flave with- 
 out his confent. 
 
 Religious rites have had a very great influence, as 
 we may well fuppofe, on the civil L-iw of the Chinefe. 
 The facrifices offered to the manes of their decu;kd 
 anceftors do not permit that a father {hould leave his 
 whole poffemorls to an only daughter : it is an axiom, 
 that a woman cannot facriftce ; and, therefore, the 
 teflatormufl provide r ome other perfmi to perform the 
 ceremony. Female children can n^ver inherit any 
 
 * " In Perfia, the ki:;;_ i tn'vc fentence of death ; and 
 
 when the droan-btqui at the court, or the in;! ' the pro- 
 
 vinces, find a man . ,'eath, in!<> iven to the 
 
 king, who decides the fate of the criminal." Description of 
 the Perfian Government, chap. xvii. 
 
 thing
 
 3 o* PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 thing when they have brothers ; for the law divides all 
 property equally among the males, charging them with 
 nothing more than the maintenance of their fillers 
 until they marry ; and then no dowry is ever paid. 
 Women are particularly ill treated in China by the 
 legiflator, who has taken lefs pains to provide for their 
 fubfiflence than to infute their flavery. 
 
 Different kinds of fervitude are feen among the 
 Chinefe, exclufive of what refults from polygamy. 
 As the Tartars were the immediate flaves of their kan, 
 previous to the conqueft of China, they continue 
 exactly in the fame ftate at prefent. This does not 
 proceed, as might be imagined, from any obligations 
 impofed upon them by the idea of their holding lands 
 through the liberality of the prince. They can fell 
 fuch pofieffions to one another, and no longer retain 
 any right to the alienated lands, unlefs the transfer 
 has been made to the Chinefe, who are obliged, on 
 receiving back the purchafe- money, to make reftitu- 
 tion of the landed property, which would otherwife 
 be gradually withdrawn entirely from the conquerors. 
 The conduct of the Tartars in China is altogether 
 extraordinary : they have effected, through prudence, 
 what the greatefl politicians would fcarcely have dared 
 to attempt by artifice and cunning. When Alexander 
 forced the Macedonians to alfume the garb of the Per- 
 fians, he proceeded ignorantly, but not fo abfurdly 
 as the Moguls, who preferved their own drefs, and 
 allowed that of the conquered to remain alfo. Thus 
 one Tartar was known among a thoufand Chinefe. 
 The Mandhuis alone acted properly. 
 
 Some
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 303 
 
 Some are flaves in China from their birth ; while 
 others, who were originally free, have been fold 
 either with their own confent, or by force ; and their 
 defcendants remain in bondage. Liberty is fo lightly 
 treated, that a man can fell himfelf there at the pre- 
 fent day. The Chinefe are ignorant of that fpecies of 
 flavery known in Greece and Egypt, where one whole 
 nation is condemned to ferve another j and which 
 may be called Helotifm. Yet this fate might have 
 attended the Moguls, had they been fubjugated inftead 
 of being expelled ; buc, from caufcs difficult to be 
 explained, they are again very powerful in China, 
 and they increafe daily, as \vcll as the Mahometans. 
 The latter have among them a fpecies oi" slavery lefs 
 mocking to natural right than ?.H others : they 
 rear fome of the children expofei' i danghi'ls by the 
 Chinefe, and fubjeft them, when grown up, to a 
 very eafy yoke. 
 
 Confifcation occasions numberlefs evils in China. 
 It is however little known among the peafants, who 
 are as remarkable for th^ir virtues, as the populace of 
 the towns are for their vices. They cannot be re- 
 proached either with bad faith, roguery, infanticide, 
 or debauchery ; for nothing equals their difcretion, 
 fobriety, and laborioufneis. But they are crumed 
 by continual flatute-work, which is exaded with 
 great rigor in China, as well as throughout the 
 whole of Ada. 
 
 An edict of the emperor Sucn-tl exempts for fome 
 time from public works thofe who have loft their 
 father or mother j for thefe unfortunate people, fays 
 
 he,
 
 S o* PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 he, fhould be allowed to reimburfe therafelves for the 
 expences of this burial. This was indeed a trifling 
 remedy for a very great evil. As the greater part of the 
 Chinefe peafants have neither oxen nor horfes, thev 
 cultivate with their hands alone the portions of land 
 they rent from the great proprietors *. To labor 
 for the fovereign is ruinous to thofe people for t\vo 
 reafons : they lofe, as the emperor Suen-ti obferves, a 
 great deal of precious time, and their flrength is ex- 
 haufted by being forced to fupply the place of cattle. 
 I obferved, fays Nieuhof, when paffing from Canton 
 to Pe-kin, that the Chinefe peafants were frequently 
 forced by ftripes to draw the veffel which conveyed the 
 Dutch amba{fador, although he begged the conduct- 
 ors to fliow more moderation. This is the fituation 
 of thofe people, who form the mod refpetlable part of 
 the empire ; and it is a melancholy circumftaHce that 
 their habitations, when far diftant from towns, can- 
 not be protected againft thieves and vagabonds. 
 
 On advancing towards the centre of the provinces, 
 fewer appearances of labor are feen, and the villages 
 dirainifh in number. Thus, not nearly one-half of 
 the foil in the whole empire is cultivated ; particularly 
 if we include the prodigious cantons of thofe favages 
 called Mia-offe. Yet agriculture cannot be confidered 
 as broLight to great perfection in any country, until 
 the arable are in proportion to all the barren lands as 
 fifty to three ; and we are told that this has been 
 effected in Enland. 
 
 
 * Eckerbcrg. Bericlit von clcr Ch:iiefhcn Landwirthfchaft. 
 
 All
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 305 
 
 A!l the provinces of China mufl not be judged by 
 thofe of Che-kan and Nan -kin, the foil of which is 
 confidered as formerly belonging to the fea, or an 
 inundation of the Yellow River. The chief mouth 
 of that river is faid to have been anciently in the gulph 
 ef Pe-tcheli, five degrees more towards the north than 
 at this day. Father Gaubil, in his Hiftory of the 
 Moguls, fpeaks very fully of this change, without be- 
 ing willing to admit that the emperor Tu could never 
 have conducted the Yellow River like a brook, and 
 that too at a period two thoufand two hundred years 
 before our era. But, in fact, the whole account 
 given in the Chou-King is grofsly fabulous. When 
 we confider the map, it would leem indeed that the 
 extreme irregularity in the courfe of that river had 
 proceeded from dikes conftructed for the purpofe. 
 If the Chinefe do not take more efficacious meafures 
 than they have hitherto adopted, the Yellow River 
 muft again occafion many embarraflments, for its 
 windings are too confiderable ; and, if it really fell 
 originally into the gulph of Pe-tcheli, it may well be 
 expected to refume that direction. 
 
 As the Chinefe have a ftrong propenfity, or rather 
 an ardent paflion, for commerce, the emperor Ven-ti 
 endeavoured to give fome confequence to the profef- 
 sion of hufbandmen, that they might be preferved 
 from that fpirit of traffic and roguery, which, like a 
 growing contagion, infected the nation ever fince the 
 government became defpotic under Schl-cbuan-di. But 
 the ceremony of the emperor tilling the earth, as many 
 
 VOL. ii. x monarchs
 
 3o6 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 inonarchs of India had done before, could not com* 
 penfate for arbitrary impofition and continual ftatute* 
 labors Let agriculture be freed from the fhackleS 
 pf tyranny; and then, inftead of requiring recorru 
 pences or honors, its own force will be fufficient to 
 enfure an ample reward. 
 
 What has mod contributed to retain the Chinefe 
 peafants in the country, is the confcioufnefs that their 
 vexations are not equal to thofe of the merchants j 
 but the latter always (leer againft the ftream, inftead 
 of being difcouraged by obftacles. They referable the 
 Jews, who inhabit the different Hates of Afia : their 
 continual grievances goad them on ; and they purfue 
 traffic, becaufe it enables them to purchafe protection 
 t court. The great injuftice they experience is ill 
 fome meafure repaired by the opportunities they are 
 allowed of making illicit gain ; and, to explain this, 
 we mail quote a pafiage of the Journal of Mr de 
 Lange, agent at Pe-kin for the court of Peterfbourg, 
 *The gentry in China, fays he, defraud the merchants^ 
 and take away their wares under every kind of pretext 
 without their ever being able to obtain payment. On that 
 account, the traders and others who exercife lucrative 
 profejjions at Pe-kin, are accuflomed to chufe protectors 
 among the princes of the blood and other great lords or 
 miniflers of the court, to ivhom they pay annually a cer- 
 iain proportion cf their gain. By this expedient they are 
 infurcd agqiJl the extortions of mandarins, and even of 
 private foldicr 5. Wit' out po-ivcrful protection a merchant 
 if a ruined man in China., and particularly at Pe-kin % 
 
 wfa
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 30* 
 
 t&here every perfon thinks he has an inconteftdble right to 
 form pretenjions on thofe ivho live by traffic. Jf any man 
 is rajh enough to require an equitable reparation by the 
 way of public jujlice^ he falls from bad to ivorfe. The 
 mandarins, after having drawn from him as much mo- 
 ney as pojfible, do not fail indeed to order the effeds taken 
 unjujlly to be brought to the college ; but he muft be ftill 
 more knowing to have them taken thence. 
 
 From the combination of thefe caufes, and many 
 others, it refults, that the number of merchants evea 
 moderately rich is not very great, confidering the 
 quantity of mops and the multitude of pedlars who 
 crowd together in the principal towns of the empire, 
 or frequent the fairs. The exterior commerce is not 
 fuppofed to amount to more annually than five million 
 ounces of filver ; and the ounce of that metal at 
 Pe-kin is now equal to about fix millings and three- 
 pence. 
 
 Several writers have fpoken of the revenues of the 
 emperor of China, but in a manner fo very vague, 
 that nothing fatisfactory can be deduced from it. Mr. 
 Salmon does not believe that the whole imperial in- 
 come amounts to more annually than twenty-two 
 millions of pounds fterling. The real receipt in filver 
 molt probably does not exceed two-thirds of that fmn ; 
 for we do not fpeak here of what is paid in kind, al- 
 though it may admit of being eflimated with fome 
 exa&nefs : but no perfon can calculate the value of 
 confifcations, which are of infinite importance to ava- 
 yicious princes. 
 
 x a It
 
 !$! PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 It (hould be obferved, that, in all defpotic 
 the revenues of the fovereigns are much lefs than we 
 are tempted to believe, confidering the great extent 
 of their dominions. The fultan did not receive an- 
 nually four millions of pounds fterling from all the 
 countries in Europe, Afia, and Africa, which were 
 limier his fwav before the lair, war. The revenues of 
 the ^reat Mogul have been greatly exaggerated ; for 
 th-y do not in reality exceed one hundred and eighty- 
 five millions of Jicca, or fomcvvhat lefs than twenty- 
 three millions fterling. 
 
 Under the Chinefe government the eunuchs had 
 introduced fo much diforder into the finances of the 
 empire, that it has hitherto been itnpoflible to clear 
 up the chaos. The Tartars found the greater part of 
 the provinces indebted fo largely to the treafury, that 
 the debt could never be paid, and it was no longer 
 required. The eunuchs dreamed of nothing but im- 
 pofts, until they wanted means to levy them ; and, 
 when the people complained of a tax on fait, it was 
 commuted for another on iron. Some of their dread- 
 ful depredations are detailed by a llhinefe author, 
 called Chi-kiai, whofe expreffions we have preferved 
 on account of their energy. 
 
 " Under the prefent dynafty," fays he, " we hear 
 ^ of nothing but impofis, duties, and prohibitions 
 " This is exceilive. They are levied on the moun/. 
 " tains, and on the valiies ; on the rivers, and on the 
 " feas ; on fait and on h on ; on wine and on tea ; oa 
 V- linens and on filksj on paflages and on markets; 
 
 " ork
 
 ON. THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. ^9 
 
 $ on brooks and on bridges : on all thefe, and on 
 f 6 many other things, I fee every-where the prohibi- 
 46 tory mark *." 
 
 The emperor did not receive the thoufandth part of 
 thefe exactions, which were fanned out by the eunuchs 
 to men who gave them the greater part of the profits. 
 To palliate the deficiency of the receipt, they declared 
 the provinces indebted for great fums, although they 
 proceeded from impofitions added to the ordinary 
 tribute. This artifice appeared execrable to the Tar- 
 tars, who had not yet, fays Father Amiot, loft their 
 natural probity ; and they reformed the fall-works 
 and cuftom-houfes, except that of Canton, which, in 
 Afia, is as odious as thofe of Spain and Portugal are 
 in Europe. 
 
 Befides all thefe, another excefllve abufe exifled 
 until it was remedied by the emperor Can-hi. In 
 republics and moderate governments, thofe who rent 
 lands in order to profit by them, might be charged 
 with the taxes ; but, in defpotic ftates, they mult be 
 required from the proprietors, otherwife the tenants 
 are liable to be haraiTed both by the landlord and the 
 fovercign. This was exactly the cafe in China at the 
 arrival of the Tartars, who ordered that, in future, 
 none but the real owners of eftates fliould be refpon- 
 fible for the taxes. 
 
 The greater part of the revenues of the emperor of 
 China confift in rice, wheat, raw and wrought fiik, 
 hay, draw, tobacco, tea, and brandy. They are, 
 
 * Collection of Imperial Edicts and Remonftiances, &c. trunk 
 lated from the Chinefe by Father Hervieu. 
 
 x 3 therefore^
 
 <gio PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 therefore, under the neceflity of paying their officer* 
 in the fame way ; and, as thofe ankles cannot be fold 
 without lofs, numberlefs mifdemeanours are the con- 
 fequence. Money is always very rare wherever the 
 fovereigns do not receive impoils in fpecie. This 
 fcarcity irritates avarice on the one hand, while, on 
 the other, flavery foments luxury. People wifh to 
 appear great in proportion as their real confequence is 
 diminifhed j and therefore, when almofl annihilated 
 by arbitrary power, the Chinefe cannot difpenfe with 
 embroidered clothes. 
 
 In a country of Havery a poll-tax is fo natural, that 
 the Chinefe, who have murmured againft all others, 
 have fnpported that impoft patiently. But the ex- 
 tracts of their registers of capitation, fuch as they have 
 appeared in Europe, are altogether falfe, as we have 
 proved in the fecond article of this work. We mail 
 not repeat here what has been faid concerning the 
 population of that country j but it certainly does not 
 amount to eighty millions of fouls. The Tartars 
 found only eleven million fifty-two thoufand eight 
 hundred and twelve families, which multiplied by 
 five, would not make fixty millions. Confidering 
 the prodigious extent of China, it is much more 
 thinly inhabited than Germany ; and it would be llill 
 lefs populous but for the favorable climate of the 
 fouthern provinces, which, according to the miffion- 
 aries, are far better peopled than thofe of the north. 
 
 As the political infhitutions of that empire have not 
 the fmalleft analogy with the government of ancient 
 Egypt, neither facerctotal nor military families were 
 
 evei
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE, 311 
 
 feen there. The Chmefe foldiers, contrary to 
 the regulations of the Calafires and Hermotybes, carry 
 on commerce, exercife trades, and cultivate lands, 
 as was cuflomary at all times, even before portions 
 were afligned to the eight banners of the Mandhuis. 
 If we are to believe Father Amiot, the pay of each 
 foot foldier cofls the emperor Kicn-long twenty-five 
 fhillings every month, of which one- half is paid 
 in money, and the other in rice ; while that of a 
 horfeman is thirty-feven {hillings and fixpence, paid 
 jn the fame manner with the former *. 
 
 In general, the maintenance of troops cofls more 
 in defpotic ftates than elfewhere j but it is not pro- 
 bable that all the Chinefe forces, which may be di- 
 vided into five clafles, are on the fame footing. The 
 firfl comprehends the cavalry : they have no fire-arms 
 of any kind ; becaufe the Tartars, who perhaps 
 underftand this part of tactics better than any 
 other, are convinced that bows are much preferable to 
 mufketoons ; and they continue^ like all the Parthians 
 and Scythians, to (hoot arrows when in full gallop. 
 The fecond divifion is compofed of cannoniers and 
 arquebufiers : the third of pike-men : the fourth of 
 infantry, who ufe bows : and, lafl of all, thofe \\ho 
 are armed with fwords and bucklers. 
 
 The exercife of all thefe troops, fo very differently 
 armed, refembles a theatrical play in the colored 
 prints at the end of the work entitled Art Militaire 
 des Cbinois. The moft ludicrous of all their farces is 
 
 CLinefe Art of \Var, p. 30. 
 & 4
 
 M* PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATION 
 
 performed by the infantry, who conceal themfelve* 
 behind bucklers, which are placed in fuch a mannef 
 as to referable a flower, called by the Chinefe me^-hoa? 
 and, for this purpofe, five men are obliged to lie 
 upon each other horizontally Thefe buffoons after- 
 wards counterfeit thofe Scythian dragons, called lu y or 
 loung, with which their colors are covered - f and then 
 they become tygers, fpringing from under their fhields 
 as from a thicket to feize their prey. But their grand 
 manoeuvre is to imitate the projection of the moon > which 
 ferves as a luckier to the mountains, or, as the Chinefe 
 exprefs themfelves, yen yue pai-chan tchen *. In a ge- 
 neral evolution, where the five bodies of militia are 
 employed, a reprefentation is given of the four cor- 
 ners of the earth, which they believe to be fquare, 
 and of the rotundity of the iky. This is practifed by 
 mixing the cavalry with the infantry, in fueh a manner 
 that it is alrnofl impoffible to form any diftincT: idea 
 of it. Father Amiot himfelf feems to have been very 
 ignorant of the matter ; for, to all appearance, the- 
 prints fent by him from Pe-kin to Paris, reprefent 
 only imaginary manoeuvres, or military amufements, 
 and, at all events, they did not deferve to be en- 
 graved. 
 
 We have not been able to afcertain how many 
 troops the Tartars continue to keep on foot fince the 
 conqueft ; but they cannot be very numerous, if we 
 
 * Chinefe Art of War, p. 348. From the dragons on the 
 Scythian ftr.ndards, feems to have been derived the word Dragoon, 
 fignifyinjr a foldier who ferves cither on foot or on horfc; anil 
 Alexander is faid to have adopted that term after the Perfians, 
 
 : :
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE^ $tt 
 
 Relieve the emperor Kien-Iong, who pretended that 
 one Mandhui could eafily fubdue ten men : let it b 
 underftood, however, that they muft be Chinefe, 
 particularly when concealed under their fhields td 
 imitate the flower mei-hoa> or the projection cf the moon-, 
 
 The emperor Kien-long could not be ignorant, that 
 the conqueft of China by his anceftors was owing iri 
 a great meafure to the almoft incredible diforder into 
 which the eunuchs had plunged that country* as well 
 as to the wretched ftate of the Chinefe militia. Father 
 Trigault, who faw thofe troops previous to the entry 
 of the Tartars into Pe-kin, declares, that fuch a col* 
 lection of vile wretches had not been feen for many 
 ages in Afia. They confided in great part of flaves 
 belonging to the emperor as well as to private people, 
 and all equally capable of the moft infamous functions* 
 They, or their fathers, had been fold and reduced 
 into flavery for different crimes j and, although called 
 foldiers, they were nothing more than banditti *. 
 
 The magistrates of China are divided into nine or- 
 ders ; and this inftitution feems to be founded en- 
 tirely on the fuperftitious infatuation of the Chinefe 
 for the number nine. Some of our authors fpeak 
 with admiration of thofe prodigious examinations un 
 dergone by candidates, previous to their being ad- 
 mitted to the office of mandarin. The origin of thifr 
 
 * Nulla gens ague vllls cfjtie iners ejl qnam militaris apuct Sinai* , 
 Maxima pars rfgla fuut t , :v7 propriis, -vel major um fuoruni 
 
 tbas perpctuarA fefvienles fe. q:;o tempoi f - a 
 
 txtrcltationilus vacant infima quaque of/'.'ia, 1. 1; a/,: >:<?!, mul\onttfn\ et 
 inhowjllora, eliam fervitia exercent. xped. apCd SioaSj p. 100. 
 
 ;
 
 gel PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 cuftom is eafily conceived, when we reflect: upon 
 nature of the Chinefe characters. In Europe, it is 
 eafy to be convinced in half an hour whether or not 
 a perfon can read and write. But in China, on the 
 contrary, this requires a long fcrutiny ; for a man of 
 letters, who fhould have made himfelf acquainted 
 with ten thoufand characters, does not perhaps kno\r 
 more than three thoufand. Many proofs are there- 
 fore neceflary to determine the real extent of his ' 
 learning, and how far he can compofe in writing, 
 which, if done with perfpicuity, is fo very difficult, 
 that few of the literati are capable of effecting it, as 
 we learn from the miffionaries The lowed clafs of 
 merchants at Canton have generally a fmall provifion 
 of characters by heart, fufficient for their mercantile 
 affairs; and, beyond that, they neither know how 
 to read nor write. Thus it became neceffary to infti- 
 tute thofe long examinations in China, which are 
 common in all the other defpotic dates of Afia. In 
 Turkey the cadis and imans are not admitted, with- 
 out having undergone fome proofs ; but money can 
 render the Turks and Chinefe much more learned 
 than all their ftudies. It is publimed even on the 
 theatres of China, fays Mr. Torrens, that the places 
 under government are all venal, as well as the office 
 of mandarin *. Befides, the want of public fchools 
 is a great obftacle to the elevation of thofe who are 
 born without fome fortune, and whofe parents have 
 not the means of paying a private tutor. 
 
 * Reife nacli Chir.a, 
 
 JW
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. g t j 
 
 That clafs of men, who require mod to be ftri&ly 
 txamined in China, are fubject to no fuch formality. 
 We fpeak here of the medical profeffion, which is 
 open to every perfon without any obligation to ftudy 
 the art of healing. The firft relations, fays Morhoff, 
 publiftied by the miffionaries in Europe, gave high 
 Ideas of the Chinefe phyficians ; but when the work 
 of Cleyer appeared, continues he, the enthufiafrn 
 ceafed, and their admirers have been covered with 
 ridicule *. Not one Chinefe has any knowledge ei- 
 ther of the internal parts or anatomy of the human 
 body. The work of Dionis has indeed been publifhed 
 in the Tartar language ; but all the miffionaries toge- 
 ther could not have tranflated it into Chinefe ; and 
 that book, fo little efleemed in Europe, is certainly 
 not fufficient to form an anatomift. All the real 
 fciences have been neglected beyond belief among the 
 Chinefe ; and their conduct towards phyficians was 
 entirely oppofite to that of the Egyptians, who were 
 accufed in this point of extreme feverity. Some 
 Greeks pretend, that they inflicted death on thofe 
 who fwerved from the rules prefcribed in the Her- 
 .metic books for the treatment of patients. We have 
 already obferved, that, in epidemical diforders pro- 
 ceeding always from the fame caufe, and accompanied 
 invariably with fimilar fymptoms, the Egyptians were 
 
 * 
 
 C/ejerus mipcr noils revelavit mcdlca Clnnen/ium myflerla^ qiia 
 till in lucem protrafta funt y rifum potius, quam applaufum mereniur ; 
 a'c mer'ito pudorem illis incutiunt, qul Europa meditina olj-.are 
 non funt veriti ferfiffionrm medicine Ckiiu-K/ss. Morh. Polihift, 
 Jib, i\ 
 
 right
 
 %15 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 right in adopting fixed medical rules Every ftck 
 perfon would certainly prefer being arbitrarily treated 
 by a fkilful doctor to all formularies whatever : but, 
 when practitioners are ignorant, it is fome comfort to 
 have their prefcriptions confined to a particular form. 
 We fpeak however of the Egyptian regulations on 
 this point, without being able to afcertain any thing ; 
 becaufe they are not fufficiently known. It is believed, 
 from pafTages in Ifocrates and fome other ancient 
 authors, that the phyficians in Egypt were not allowed 
 to employ any medicines more violent than thofe con- 
 tained in their pharmacopeia. But the punimrnent 
 of death was mod probably confined to oculifts, den- 
 tifls, and furgeons, who had taken upon themfelves 
 to adminifter drugs improperly, beyond the bounds 
 of their art. The Egyptians had very fevere laws 
 againft murder; and the crime appeared to them 
 nearly the fame, whether a poor wretch was aifaffi- 
 nated in his bed or on the high-way. 
 
 No lawyers are found among thofe men called the 
 literati of China ; becaufe the parties have to appear 
 before the judge, as in Turkey, and throughout the 
 whole of the Eaft. Some have pretended that their 
 knowledge in the practice of the civil law was very 
 extenfive : but, in fact, they are totally ignorant of 
 the matter, as may be demonftrated even from the 
 teftimony of the miffionaries, who have mod exalted 
 the qualifications of the Afiatics. No appeal can be 
 made there from any fentence whatever. This is no 
 lefs oppofite to the principles of civil law, than con- 
 formable to the inflitutions of a defpotie ftate. 
 
 " Howevej
 
 
 
 ON THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. it? 
 
 * 5 However the law may reftrain a Chinefe magi* 
 ftrate in criminal ca^es," fays Father du Halde* 
 he is almoft abfolute in civil matters. All contefts 
 relative to the property of private perfons are 
 judged by the great officers of the provinces with-* 
 out any appeal ; although, in affairs of confe* 
 quence, complaints may be lodged before the fove- 
 reign court at Pe-kin *." 
 People are allowed likewife to complain even at 
 Tunis and Morocco ; but no appeals are admitted 
 thtre in civil procedures, which are more fubjecl to 
 jnjuftice than all others. It is feldom that a judg6 
 can Oe led to acl: partially in criminal caufes, .which 
 tend to diiturb public tranquiiiiiy ; but he may be 
 corrupted in different modes, when an action con-* 
 cerns only private interefts. The prohibition of ap4 
 peals is the more unpardonable when the rules of ju- 
 riiprudciice are neglected in the procedures j and, to 
 prove that this is the caie in China, we have only to 
 extract a paffage from the work of Father du Halde. 
 '* Although the governor of the province," fays 
 Jie, " has under him the four great officers, and each 
 " mandarin is provided always with one or fometimes 
 " two affeffors ; yet the affair., are not ordinarily de- 
 " cided by a plurali;y of votes. When the parties 
 *' are brought before the tribunal, or yamen, of any 
 *' magiftrate of whatever rank, after fome few forma- 
 '*^li'5es obferved by the regiflers,bailiffs,and other fuch 
 fc people, he pronounces according to his own will .; 
 ^ -and fometimes orders the perfon, who has loft hi$ 
 *' fuit, to receive a number of baftinadoes." 
 
 * Defcription ef China, vt>l. i. 
 
 ThU
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS 
 
 This is exactly the method of the Turks, without 
 the fmalleft difference. More caufes are judged and 
 decided there in an hour, than the tribunal of thirty 
 at Thebes could have inveftigated in a month. The 
 deteflable cuftom of pronouncing without collecting 
 votes, and of beating the pleaders afterwards, could 
 never have been introduced or maintained but in dates 
 completely defpotic. Slaves are governed by the 
 cudgel, and men by the law. 
 
 The pride of the Chinefe proceeds from their igno- 
 Vance and their fervitude : for other nations of Alia, 
 not more free, are no lefs puffed up with ideas of their 
 own confequence. Their adherence to ancient rites 
 
 is the effect of education ; and their attachment to 
 
 \ 
 
 their native country is produced by the worfhip ren- 
 dered to anceftors, near whofe tombs it is neceffary 
 to remain. Patriotifm cannot exift in an empire fo 
 extenfive as China. When fome people of former 
 times poiTefTed no other domains than a town and a 
 few fields round the ramparts, the love of their coun- 
 try was extreme ; becaufe they knew each other, and 
 their common poffeffions. But a Chinefe, born at 
 Pe-kin, does not underftand the language of a native 
 of Canton ; and how can fuch people confider them- 
 felves as countrymen ? This diverfity of dialects can 
 be ufeful to the defpot alone, by preventing the pro- 
 Tinces from confpiring together fuddenly ; and China, 
 for the fame reafon, has no ports for conveying private 
 letters. Correfpondence in that way would be too 
 alarming for the government ; and it appears by dif- 
 ferent relations., that the emperor is frequently under
 
 6N THE EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE. 314 
 
 tfie neceffity of employing foldiers to efcort his own 
 couriers. 
 
 Thus China difcovers nothing in point of legifla. 
 tion more wonderful than the other empires of the 
 Eaft. They fubfift, becaufe it would be furprifmg 
 indeed that a ufurper fhould not be found whenever 
 a fovereign is wanting. Perfia has been an empire 
 from the days of Cyrus to thofe of Kerlm-kan ; and 
 nothing but fome phyfical revolution, not to be ex- 
 pected, can prevent it from continuing fuch for many 
 ages longer. 
 
 No fooner is one Chinefe dynafty hurled from th 
 throne, than fome perion prefents himfelf for the 
 fucccffion. The people have not time to reflect : 
 The provinces are ignorant of the event, though the 
 man is already in poifeflion of the fovereign powers. 
 Frequently the fubje&s neither know who the perfon 
 is, nor whence he came ; and they learn all thofc 
 circumftances only when his power is eftablifhed. 
 China has had a fhoemaker at one time, and the cook of 
 convent at another, for its emperors; and no country, 
 except India, during the dynally of the Moguls, 
 ever faw fo many fovereigns dethroned, flaughtered, 
 and poifoned, without reckoning the one who hung 
 himlelf at the arrival of the Tartars. 
 
 Many dreadful misfortunes would have been avoid* 
 fcd in that country, had the order of fucceflion been 
 regulated among the defendants of the emperor: 
 but the thing is abfolutely impoflible, becaufe the 
 fovereign the. x- v ill not admit of any curb. The 
 Mandhuis have no better political inftitutions on that 
 Jiead than the Cuinefe* 'A he emperor Can- At amufed 
 
 himfelf
 
 j<3 PHILOSOPHICAL DISSERTATIONS, See. 
 
 fcimfelf with the fate of his children. When poi- 
 foned, the Chinefe Gazette announced them dead of 
 fin apoplexy ; and by the intrigues of the feraglio, 
 hitherto not fully revealed, Tong tcheng came to the 
 throne ; although all the aftrologers of the empire 
 \vould have laid wagers to the contrary. The hiftory 
 of defpotic empires can never be written in a man- 
 ner either inftructive or fatisfactory. Great events 
 jire there decided by caufes, which could not be re- 
 lated without fhame, even when well attefted. The 
 Chinefe are foolifh enough to believe that anciently 
 the wife of one of the emperors was employed in 
 \vriting the transactions of the feraglio, to communi- 
 cate them to the annalifts of the empire. No per- 
 fon, however, has feen a fingle leaf of thofe me* 
 jnoirs, which would have merited no more belief 
 than the Court Gazettes. The emperors, fays Fa- 
 ther Amiot, frequently receive compliments from the 
 great colleges on the victories which thcfe gazettes 
 Announce \ while the flattered princes know beyond 
 p. doubt that their troops have been entirely defeated. 
 Of this however the people and the great colleges 
 lire ignorant ; for both officers and foldiers are for- 
 fcidden, under pain of death, to give information of 
 what pafles. Tfre general lies, and the army is filent. 
 
 THIS work was undertaken to mow that no two, 
 nations ever refembled each other lefs than the Egyp-, 
 tians and Chinefe ; and as that object is now, in my 
 opinion, fully accompliflied, it would be fuperfluou^ 
 to proceed any further in our refearches.

 
 
 was borrowed. 
 
 ftPR 1 3 199 
 
 ftPRl 19 92
 
 3 1158 00601 8096
 
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